I'm writing this from the viewpoint of a 17 year old who is unsure what they want to do with their life.
First of all - You're not alone. And for those 17 years olds who think they know what to do -> I'm going to guess there's a 75% shot they're wrong. High School simply does not have the capability or infrastructure to be able to give you proper visibility into all that is out there. That's ok though. Expanding perspective takes time, and not every 17 year old should know every potential path they have from that point going forward.
So... you have a ton of options right now, depending on your financial situation.
Option 1) The typical path. Go to college.
This is not an inherently bad option. College offers a sandbox experience. Time to mature. Time to think. Time to build social skills. Soft skills. Critical thinking skills, to an extent. The only thing I caution here -> don't go into major debt for this option.
Option 2) College, but heavily modified.
I love this option. Let's say you alter course. Instead of going for that out of state school for 60k/year, you decide for a state school for 16k/year. You nab a few scholarships and get that down to 10k/year. You pick up a summer job and put $2,500/summer to your annual bill, bringing it down to $7,500/year. Maybe your parents help you out a bit - and voila, you're graduating with little to no debt.
Now here's where we modify.
Get aligned on a study abroad experience quickly - ideally a full year long option. Travel = personal development in ways you just can't find domestically, particularly at the college age. When you do go abroad, find a way to get out to new countries over the weekend. Hop on trains. Learn the art of travel. Before you head to a new country, lean into the language and try and at least be able to say a few lines to get what you need. It's all apart of the experience.
Now here's where you can really kick things into gear. Join an ecosystem like High Agency, to layer on the real world applicability. You can embed in with a cohort of similar minded peers and tackle real world projects, engage executives/founders/investors/operators and actively build out your network. Learn how to approach things unconventionally, and with audacity and high agency. We blend this in with a travel abroad experience, and perhaps when you're heading out on a weekend trip to a new country, you're doing it to grab lunch with an executive at a F500 company.
So now you're really moving. You're on track for the degree, you're building high agency, and you're opening as many doors as possible. Via the high agency program, you're actively learning about career paths within industries of the future and you're building at the same time. You're starting to move fast, and you're starting to see just how addictive it is to build momentum and capitalize on it.
When you get back from studying abroad, you're able to find an internship through the High Agency community. You do this in tandem while going to school. Or perhaps you decide to take a go at building a startup with your cohort. There's a ton of options here. But the end goal is -> you're not waiting until you graduate to build or do something real, with tangible results and income. You're doing it now.
While you build, you're also learning about new career paths. You start to hone in on one - Agentic development. You take a more specialized course at General Assembly, taught by an Anthropic engineer focused on building agents.
At the same time, you join a High Agency talk where you hear directly from a SpaceX engineer on what they're working on, what they do, and how they got there. This also excites you, so you start to explore that as well.
All of a sudden you realize you've got your hands in 8 different things, but you're loving it. There's little down time, but you're energized. With the help of your HA coach, you start to narrow things down based on what creates energy more for you. You start to get more specific with where you're naturally more inclined. You start to find your niche.
Now this is where the real magic happens. When you find a professional path that... doesn't feel professional. It's passion. And the work motivates you. THIS is where things really take off. Where the luck surface expands because you enjoy it so much, and it seeps into your regular life where new opportunities arise due to your passion level.
THIS is the goal. Getting to that point, where you find that path that is fueled by so much passion, it doesn't feel like work. It energizes you, and you want to push harder and harder due to it.
Option 3) Your own path
Essentially option 2, without the degree. I'm not ready to recommend that students don't go to college. We're still at a point where a degree is valuable, although it's worth an argument as to the declining of that value. This is why I'm a big fan of still going to college, but only in a way where you can do it without a massive debt burden. Debt is the ultimate dream killer at an early age.
I recommend students stay agile. Focus on opening as many doors as you can. If you don't want to do college, I get it - but HAVE A PLAN. Supplement with a coaching program that provides an ecosystem. Lean into bootcamps. Know the specific courses you want to take. Have a path to opening 10-15 doors a month.
If you want to chart this path, I highly recommend traveling for a year. Go move to Australia (what I did) and get a job at a restaurant. While you do that, get involved with different things, start some side projects, and immerse yourself. Combine this with a few specific programs, and a path to building your own network, and you'll have a very productive year where you can then decide what next.
The world rewards those who move first. In the end, this is the goal. Build yourself up to be a first mover. Someone who can initiate, rally resources, get people aligned on a goal, and build.
We’re entering an economy where every year from now on will move at the pace of a decade in the past. Audacity and adaptability aren’t “nice-to-have” skills—they’re the only skills that keep you relevant.
