Kezia Endsley - Digital Communications Professionals: A Practical Career Guide

American Gap Year Association

www.gapyearassociation.org

The American Gap Year Associations mission is making transformative gap years an accessible option for all high school graduates. A gap year is a year taken between high school and college to travel, teach, work, volunteer, generally mature, and otherwise experience the world. Their website has lots of advice and resources for anyone considering taking a gap year.

American Indian College Fund

https://collegefund.org

Provides scholarships and college information for Native American students at any of the nations 33 accredited tribal colleges and universities.

The Balance Website

www.thebalance.com

This site is all about managing money and finances but also has a large section called Your Career, which provides advice for writing rsums and cover letters, interviewing, and more. Search the site for teens and you can find teen-specific advice and tips.

Cappex

www.cappex.com

A free website where you can find out about colleges and merit aid scholarships.

College Board Website

www.collegeboard.org

The College Entrance Examination Board tracks and summarizes financial data from colleges and universities all over the United States. This site can be your one-stop shop for all things college research. It contains lots of advice and information about taking and doing well on the SAT and ACT tests, many articles on college planning, a robust college search feature, a scholarship search feature, and a major and career search area. You can type your career of interest (e.g., digital advertising) into the search box and get back a full page that describes the career and gives advice on how to prepare, where to get experience, how to pay for it, and what characteristics you should have to excel in this career. It also contains lists of helpful classes to take while in high school and lots of links for more information. A great, well-organized site.

College Grad Career Profile Website

www.collegegrad.com/careers

Although this site is geared primarily to college graduates, the careers profile area has a list of links to nearly every career you could ever think of. A single click takes you to a detailed, helpful section that describes the job in detail, explains the educational requirements, includes links to good colleges that offer this career, includes links to actual open jobs and internships, describes the licensing requirements (if any), lists salaries, and much more.

Gates Millennium Scholars

https://gmsp.org

Provides scholarships to reduce barriers to college for African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American, and Hispanic American students regardless of major.

GoCollege

www.gocollege.com

Calls itself the number one college-bound website on the internet. Includes lots of good tips and information about getting money and scholarships for college and getting the most out of your college education. Has a good section on how scholarships in general work.

Go Overseas

www.gooverseas.com

Claims to be your guide to more than 14,000 study and teach abroad programs that will change how you see the world. Also includes information about high school abroad programs, and gap-year opportunities. Includes community reviews and information about finding programs specific to your interests and grade-level teaching aspirations.

Kahn Academy

www.khanacademy.org

An impressive collection of articles, courses, and videos about many educational topics in math, science, and the humanities. You can search any topic or subject (by subject matter and grade) and read lessons, take courses, and watch videos to learn all about it. Includes test prep information for the SAT, ACT, AP, GMAT, and other standardized tests. There is also a College Admissions tab with lots of good articles and information provided in the approachable Kahn style.

Live Career Website

www.livecareer.com

This site has an impressive number of resources directed to teens for writing rsums, cover letters, and interviewing.

Mapping Your Future

www.mappingyourfuture.org

This site helps young people figure out what they want to do and maps out how to reach career goals. Includes helpful tips on rsum writing, job hunting, job interviewing, and more.

Monster

www.monster.com

Perhaps the most well-known and certainly one of the largest employment websites in the United States. You fill in a couple of search boxes, and away you go. You can sort by job title, of course, as well as by company name, location, salary range, experience range, and much more. The site also includes information about career fairs, advice on rsums and interviewing, and more.

Petersons College Prep Website

www.petersons.com

In addition to lots of information about preparing for the ACT and SAT tests and easily searchable information about scholarships nationwide, Petersons site includes a comprehensive search feature to for universities and schools based on location, major, name, and more.

Study.Com Website

www.study.com

A site similar to Kahn Academy where you can search any topic or subject and read lessons, take courses, and watch videos to learn all about it. Includes a good collection of information about the digital communications professions.

TeenLife: College Preparation

www.teenlife.com

This organization calls itself the leading source for college preparation, and it includes lots of information about summer programs, gap-year programs, community service, and more. They believe that spending time out in the world outside of the classroom can help students develop important life skills. This site contains lots of links to volunteer and summer programs.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

www.bls.gov

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics produces this website. It offers lots of relevant and updated information about various careers, including average salaries, how to work in the industry, the jobs outlook in the job market, typical work environments, and what workers do on the job. See www.bls.gov/emp for a full list of employment projections.

U.S. News & World Report College Rankings

www.usnews.com/best-colleges

U.S. News & World Report provides almost 50 different types of numerical rankings and lists of colleges throughout the United States to help students with their college search. You can search colleges by best reviewed, best value for the money, best liberal arts schools, best schools for B students, and more.