Schools

Class of 2011: What's Next?

With high school behind them, where are this year's graduates heading?

The books are put away, the cap and gown folded and the members of Watchung Hills Regional's Class of 2011 are home after a night of safe celebration at Project Graduation.

Now what?

For the majority of students, the summer is a break before launching their college educations but others have plans to head into the job market or military service.

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In a preliminary report on the students' plans presented at Monday night's board of education meeting, Guidance Supervisor Catherine Angelastro noted more students are diving into the work force this year, despite a generally poor job market.

About 2.2 percent of students are planning to enter the work force, up from 1.5 percent last year. That's still fewer than in 2008, when 3.5 percent of the students planned to go to work.

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Angelastro noted the increase in students looking to trade schools instead of college—while none were heading to such schools before 2008, 1.3 percent of the students (about seven) will head to trade schools next.

Military service has been fairly consistent, with about 1 percent of the students choosing the military. This year, 1.1 percent (six students) chose military service for their post graduation plans.

Students heading to four-year colleges dropped from 82.8 percent of students last year, to 77 percent in the Class of 2011. When asked if the school tracked reasons why students choose two or four-year schools by board President Robert Horowitz, Angelastro said students attending two-year schools were asked this year if they plan to head to a four-year afterwards, although the information isn't available yet.

"The students even come down to us and say, 'I'm planning to go to Rutgers, but I'm starting here,'" she said. "They don't really want to be reported as a two-year college, so this year will be the first year we add this to our statistics."

A total of 16.3 percent of students are heading to two-year schools.

Angelastro reported on some of the students' more significant college acceptances, including a student admitted to NYU-Stern business school, and another who was accepted into the University of Pittsburgh's eight-year medical school program.

Angelastro reported 12 students in the Class of 2011 will attend Ivy League colleges, including four heading to Cornell, three each to Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania, and one student each attending Harvard and Princeton. Her reported noted although students applied to Brown, Dartmouth and Yale, these schools did not accept any of the students.

Engineering schools at Cornell, Rensselaer, Case-Western and Carnegie-Mellon will see members of the Class of 2011, also.

Angelastro also mentioned students choosing schools further away, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Washington University in St. Louis.

"I want you to know these are the students' choices, the paths the students decide to take," she said.

 

"Each class has it's own personality," Angelastro said. "Last year, 96 percent decided to go on, this year we had more trade schools, employment or military—every class is different."

Angelastro's presentation was a preliminary report, which was made as her department works on a final report due in October.


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