Careers Project

Name_Ashley Costigan_______

Instructions: Research the career you are hoping to have when you grow up. A good tool
to use (other than google) is collegeincolorado.org where you can use the Career
Planning tab.
1. The occupation I want is ____personal financial advisor_________.
2. In 3 or 4 sentences, what does a person in your career do?
They analyze peoples financials and help them decide whether or not to invest,
where to invest, and how much is suitable to invest. They also help with tax laws
and insurance decisions. Also plan short term and long term goals such as college
for their kids and retirement. They suggest investments based on the clients
financial ability and goals.
3. What are some of the skills or aptitudes a successful person in your field would
need?
They would need at least a bachelors degree in finance, business, or other
degrees. My plan is to double major Business Admin and Finance. They would need
to be good at understanding the stock market in order to give their clients the best
opportunity to make money and achieve their goals.

4. What colleges have good programs for my future career?

Colorado Mesa University Ive applied
University of Minnesota Duluth Ive applied
University of Nebraska
5. What kind of GPA and test scores do I need to get into these schools?
3, 21
3.43, 24
3.58, 25
6. How much does someone in my desired field make per year?
Anywhere between $35,500 to $187,199

7. What are the employment outlook and annual openings for your career in Denver
Metro area or in the area where you would like to live and what is the employment
outlook for the U.S.?
There are pretty much openings all over.

Careers Project

Name_Ashley Costigan_______

8. The thing that most interested me about this career was

How well it fit my personality and skills.

9. I believe I will be successful at this career because

Like I said before it fits my personality and skills very well and I have an interest in
doing this for the rest of my life.

Careers Project

Name_Ashley Costigan_______

Now you will be writing 1-2 pages (double spaced) reflecting on what you learned during
your Career and Post-Secondary Ed research. Discuss your plans, reflect on what new
information you gathered in your career and/or postsecondary research, challenges you
may face, and what you will do to prepare yourself to achieve your goal. Use professional
voice and proofread for grammar and spelling.

Component
Introduction

Criteria

Score

Introduces future plans completely

Includes what you are certain about and
what is undecided
4+ sentences

1 2 3 4

Demonstrati
on of
Learning

Explains what was learned by doing the

project
Display understanding of career and its
attributes.
Explains why the career was selected
At least 6 sentences

Reflection

Contains critical thinking regarding actions

necessary to achieve goal while in High
School
Contains critical thinking regarding actions
necessary to achieve goal after High School
Details what challenges the student will
face and how they plan to overcome them
At least 6 sentences

Formatting/
Structure

Clearly written; avoids spelling or

grammatical errors
Word choice appropriate for grade level and
audience
Professional voice used

0 5 10 15 20

0 3 6 9 12 15

2 4 6 8 10

Careers Project

Name_Ashley Costigan_______

Throughout this project I learned a lot. Before this project I only knew what I
wanted to major in only because I had an interest in Business administration and finance,
not really what that degree would lead to in the professional world. After reading about
the few jobs that these degrees would lead to, I figured out that a personal financial
advisor would fit me best. I took the two different tests on College in Colorado and the
skills and focuses that I have were also the skills and focuses of a personal financial
advisor have. I also learned that I will most likely need to do internships either while I am
still getting my degree or after I graduate.
I dont really have any plans set in concrete. So far I have applied to two schools.
The first being Colorado Mesa University. I applied here for a couple reasons; I toured
there this past summer and really loved the campus, they have a degree called Business
Administration Finance which is the perfect degree for me and what I want to do, and
according to their index scores if you have a 92 you are admissible to their school, I have
a score of 112 with my current GPA which I plan to increases throughout senior year. The
other school I have applied to is University of Minnesota Duluth. I applied here for many
reasons too; I also toured there this summer because both my parents are alumni of UMD
and I also really liked the campus. It is right up the hill from Lake Superior which is a
much different living style than living in Castle Rock, Colorado your whole life. They also
have a great business school and I know people who graduate from UMD with a business
degree are successful because my dad is one of them. He owns his own business and it
is doing very well. I also have a good chance of getting in since their middle 50% of
freshman have a GPA of 3.17 3.74 and an ACT of 22 26. I am pretty sure that I want to
major in business administration and finance but most people change their major when
they get there so that isnt for sure either.

Careers Project

Name_Ashley Costigan_______

Although my GPA are good enough to get in to the schools Ive already applied to, I
am still going to try and raise as much as I can this year. Throughout college I will really
need to focus on the classes necessary to become a personal financial advisor and
achieve all my goals. College is hard and its meant to be but if I focus and make sure I
get the credits I need to achieve my goals I should be set.