College and Career Center

Our College and Career Center helps students to find work while in high school, prepare for college, as well as plan for their long-term future.

Career Exploration - 

Learning about different careers is a process. Students should not feel that they need to decide now what they will do for long-term work. But finding out which careers might be a good fit for your interests and talents can be fun! Utilize our Career Exploration page to find out information about careers that you already have in mind or take an interest inventory to have careers suggested based on your skills and interests. 

For students looking to explore their career path at home, these sites are a good place to start. Engaging in conversation with adults in a variety of occupations can provide some invaluable insight as well. 

California CareerZone – California CareerZone is a career exploration and planning system designed especially for students. We encourage students to create an account so they can track their search and note which occupations they find interesting. A good place for students to start is with the Interest Profiler. They can continue on to complete the Work Importance Profiler and Assess Yourself assessment. Comprehensive information on 900 occupations includes state specific wages, worker attributes, job characteristics, and much more. 

Career One Stop – Utilized nation-wide to explore careers, this website can also help students explore careers, as well as research types of training needed for different careers.  

Big Future – This is CollegeBoard's planner which allows students to find college majors based on their interests, get career ideas or watch videos to see how others decided on careers.

Financial Aid and Scholarships - 

 To complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), you will need:

  • Your Social Security Number
  • Your Alien Registration Number (if you are not a U.S. citizen)
  • Your most recent federal income tax returns, W-2s, and other records of money earned. (Note: You may be able to transfer your federal tax return information into your FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool.)
  • Bank statements and records of investments (if applicable)
  • Records of untaxed income (if applicable)
  • An FSA ID to sign electronically.

If you are a dependent student, then you will also need most of the above information for your parent(s).

There is a wealth of information regarding financial aid programs and scholarships on the internet. Please be aware that you should not have to pay money to apply for a scholarship or the FAFSA. If a site is requesting money, it is a scam!

Financial Aid:

Scholarships:

Scholarship Search Sites:

  • Fast Web – the largest FREE scholarship database
  • Chegg – scholarship matching database
  • College Answer - free scholarship information from Sallie Mae
  • Scholarships.com – free national scholarship database
  • Big Future - find all about how to pay for college with videos, information about scholarships, loans, and tools and calculators to help estimate college costs.
  • Cappex.com -With the most comprehensive scholarship database available, students find national and local scholarships that match their qualifications and can sort them by level of effort or competition.

Make sure to check out the Financial Aid & Scholarships section on college websites for specific information related to their campus.

Santa Barbara City College - 

We are fortunate to have the NUMBER ONE community college in the nation right here in Santa Barbara. Many of our students take advantage of the opportunity to take City College courses while enrolled at San Marcos, as well as continuing their post-secondary education at SBCC.

College Admissions - 

The Fall semester is typically an exciting time for students as they return from summer break. It's also the period of time where our Senior students in particular are focused on finalizing their list of colleges to apply to, working on their college applications, possibly taking the SAT/ACT (more info coming from the school soon!), .... on top of all of the other activities that they've focused on throughout their time in high school.

Students of all grade levels should make themselves familiar with college admissions requirements, specifically which classes colleges require prior to graduating from high school. These are different from college to college and our SB Unified Graduation Requirements prepare students to be college eligible, however many colleges have requirements beyond our graduation requirements. You can see the requirements for both the Cal State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems here. 

There are many ways to research colleges that might be a good fit for your interests and skills. We utilize Scoir which allows students to take virtual tours of college campuses. There is also a portion of the Scoir website called CampusReel which has interviews with current University students to provide a student-view of the college. 

California Colleges is  a great resource for looking at college and career planning within California. In addition to searching through CA colleges, students can explore financial aid options. 

When you're ready to apply to college, there are many ways to do so. Some schools ask you to apply directly through their website, while others allow you to use one application for many different schools. These would include the Common App and the Coalition Application. 

 

Jobs and Internships -

Are you interested in applying for a job now or in the near future?

Paid Internships with Partners in Education. Students who successfully complete the 7-week virtual training program earn a $150 stipend and have the opportunity to be matched with paid internships at local organizations. The opportunity is now available to high school juniors and seniors at public high schools across Santa Barbara County. Students can apply here: http://partners.sbceo.org/application/  

View our list of Jobs for Students.

WORK PERMITS

Students: If you wish to find a job or renew an existing work permit, please pay attention to the following. Our process for issuing or renewing work permits has changed.

Please read the SBUSD Work Permits 2021-2022 document. 

Work Permit Basic Process:

  1. Find a job.
  2. Print the SBUSD Work Permit Application B1-1 Form and complete Student and Parent sections
  3. Have your Employer complete their section
  4. Drop off the completed and signed Work Permit Application form to the Counseling Office.
  5. You will be notified when the Official Work Permit is complete (within 3-4 days). 
  6. Return it to your employer.
  7. Maintain 2.0 GPA, including no failing classes, and good attendance to keep your permit active. This still applies to Distance Learning model.


* If your GPA drops below 2.0, then you will be placed on probation and must increase your GPA above 2.0 by the next grading period.

Job Opportunities 

SCOIR - 

Click the image above to open a new page with tips for the many ways to use SCOIR including college comparisons, resume building for your application, writing a college essay, and financial aid. 

Access SCOIR and register your account

1) Click the link - https://app.scoir.com/signin.

2) Click "Login with G" (below 'forgot your password')

3) Log in with your SB Unified Gmail account

Planning for Colleges - 

Haven’t a clue about what colleges are out there? There are many different sites to help you select colleges that are a good match for you. Here are some to get you started: 

  • California Colleges - the official source for college and career planning in California
  • College Navigator - information about colleges from the U.S. Department of Education
  • Unigo.com – college reviews written by college students for students
  • College Answer- planning for college from Sallie Mae
  • My College Quick Start – My College QuickStart is an online college and career planning kit available free of charge to all students who take the PSAT/NMSQT. It is powered by their responses to the test and provides personalized information that helps students take their next steps toward college.
  • Cappex -college matching, scholarship info and your chances for admission
  • Chegg- college info, scholarship matching and internships!
  • Princeton Review School Finder
  • College Week Live – the world’s largest online college fair. See a live Q & A session with college admissions officer, talk to college students, watch a video—it’s all here!
  • Big Future – not sure what you want in a college or how to pay for college? Want to make a step-by-step college plan? Check out College Board’s FREE college search and financial aid tool.
  • National Association for College Admission Counseling- an organization of more than 13,000 professionals from around the world dedicated to serving students as they make choices about pursuing post-secondary education.
  • Regional Admission Counselors of California - if you are looking for out-of-state educational opportunities, you will want to look at the RACC partners.
  • Western Undergraduate Exchange - Students who are residents of WICHE states are eligible to request a reduced tuition rate of 150% of resident tuition at participating two- and four-year college programs outside of their home state.