Welcome to College Aspie.

Welcome to College Aspie a place to help you start planning for           college.

I went through many different learning experiences, some were
positive, while some learning experiences turned out to be mistakes I learned from. With those experiences combined, I’ve put together, a blog that is designed to help high school students start planning for   college.

This site covers many topics including preparation for test taking, applying for
financial aid, and living on campus.

This site also includes news articles, and resources with a goal of giving people on the autistic spectrum preparing for college the
resources and tools they need to make good decisions on college         planning.

Going to college takes time to plan.  There are unique challenges that can be posed to those on the spectrum.  This is a safe place to learn how you can prepare for a successful college experience.

Getting started

Going to college takes a lot of time, energy, and money.  Start thinking early during your high school years about what you would like to do for a career after high school.

What do you enjoy spending your time most?  What are your hobbies and interests?  Explore, what career options these can turn into.  Seek out people who are already in a career you are possibly interested in.

For example, if you are interested in becoming a chef, maybe you visit your favorite restaurant and arrange an interview with the head chef there.  If you have a passion for learning how to fly airplanes, research what it’s like to be a pilot.  Try contacting your local airport to see if you can talk with one of the pilots.

Find out from everyone you talk to about possible careers.  Asking people about their career is great way to see what their day-to-day schedule is like.  What type of training did they need?  What skills are crucial to be successful in the job they have?

A personal example would be my job as a sales manager.  I received a business management degree, with a minor in communications studies in college.  Skills I need are: to be able to create rapport with others, to be able to plan what customers I would like to bring on, what markets I would like to sell to, and how will I maintain these customers.  I also have to be self-motivated, I also need to be organized, since I am one of the people who runs the company.

To get started on finding your strengths, the links on the resources page can direct you to strengths finder quizzes, and tests that can help guide you to careers you may want to consider.

Goal Setting, start by having an idea and a plan.

Learning to set goals will greatly increase your odds of getting where you want to be!

Goal setting can be applied to many areas of you life, some examples are: school, sports, hobbies, and you guessed it planning for college.

Start with setting attainable expectations of something you want to achieve.  Now create a plan for how to get there.  The principle of having an idea and a plan is the focus of this post on goal setting.

For example, you want to be on time for class.  Getting to class on time is the idea.  Now you need a plan to help get you to your idea.

Start by figuring out how much time it will take for you to get to the location of your class before it begins.

It’s safe to always be at the location of class seven to ten minutes before class starts.

Let’s say your first class starts at 8:30 AM.

You will want to give yourself plenty of time to get dressed, eat breakfast, and complete any parts of your morning routine.

Set a schedule of when you want to wake up, and what you need to do to get ready for class.  This example uses an on-campus living scenario involving a person who lives on campus, and has class at 8:30 AM.

I create a plan for what time I should wake up, how long it will take for me to get ready for class, and how long it will take to get to class.

For example:

Objective: Arrive at the location of my 8:30 am class by 8:23 AM at the latest.

Wake up:      6:45AM

Eat breakfast:   6:50AM-7:15AM

Get Dressed and ready for class:  7:20AM-7:45AM

Now, you have to put this schedule to the test.  This is the only way you can see if you achieved your goal.

After trying this schedule for getting to class in a timely manner, ask yourself these two questions.  Did I achieve my goal?  What can be done to improve this goal?  Maybe you still found yourself a few minutes late to class.  Even the opposite maybe you had too much extra time.  Refine, the steps needed to achieve your objective of getting to class in a timely manner.

Now to apply this principle to setting other goals, in other areas of your life.