The majority of recent high school graduates lack clear confidence in their post-graduation plans and say they would have been more engaged in high school—and their future plans—if they had better understood their aptitudes and career options prior to graduation.
That’s the overarching takeaway from the new 2025 Post-Graduation Readiness Report from YouScience, an educational technology company that surveyed more than 500 recent high school graduates nationwide from the classes of 2021 through 2024 and analyzed trends across six graduating classes from 2019 to 2024.
“Kids are saying, ‘I don’t feel ready for the next part of my life,’ and that’s a big problem,” said Edson Barton, the co-founder and CEO of YouScience. “I believe that our education system in the United States is the very best in the world. … But we have this notion that academics should drive everything, and it really shouldn’t; there should be a focus on career, on what you can become.”
The report, while indicating a rise in uncertainty among high school graduates about their future plans, also shed light on how recent graduates think the high school experience could better prepare them to launch into the “real world” with greater confidence and direction.
The input comes at a time when schools and districts across the country are working to make the high school experience more engaging for current students, and more relevant for their future.
A closer look at the statistics
But as this new survey shows, important signs of post-graduation success are trending downward.
A strong majority of recent graduates (72%) surveyed agreed to feeling only moderately, slightly, or not at all prepared for next steps. Drilling down, their responses indicated the lack of clarity:
- 35% of the graduating class of 2024 who responded to the survey enrolled in a four-year college, compared to 55% of the survey respondents from the class of 2019;
- 2% of 2024 respondents enrolled in a vocational or trade school, compared to an average of 8% between 2019 to 2023; and
- 28% of 2024 respondents reported that they are “working toward a career goal” compared to 13 percent in 2019.
Despite the relatively small sample size of graduates surveyed, some results do closely mirror those captured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The BLS reported that an estimated 45% of people who graduated from high school between January and October 2023 enrolled in a four-year college or university by October of that year, compared to 41% of 2023 graduates in the YouScience survey.
Respondents did share specifics on how their high school experience could have better prepared them for what’s next:
- 50% said more work-based opportunities would have been helpful;
- 45% wanted more career counseling or guidance; and
- 41% said schools should have helped them better understand their aptitudes.
Graduates also pointed out some other regrets, including too few real-world learning experiences in the classroom, and a failure to explore different career options sooner.
More exposure to CTE could help students focus on future
A stronger emphasis on exposure to career and technical education (CTE) could help give students more direction, research shows.
In May 2024, the American Institutes for Research conducted a systematic review of 20 years’ worth of research on the impact of CTE and found some evidence of its positive effects. Students who took even one CTE course were more likely to enroll in a two-year college, and those who took CTE courses in high school were also more likely to be employed after they graduated from high school.
And increasingly, the line between CTE and college-prep courses is being blurred, say some experts.
“Fifteen, 20 years ago, it would be a rarity for a student in CTE to go to a four-year college,” said Susan Therriault, a managing director at the American Institutes for Research who leads the organization’s K-12 systemic improvement portfolio of work.
Now, she said, it’s common for students who take CTE to get a post-graduate certificate from a community college, or enroll in a four-year college to further build on skills.
“It’s really changed in a major way,” she said.
College-bound students also want experience
Just as CTE is no longer a direct pathway to a post-high school trade position, students bound for college are more likely to appreciate the value of experiential learning opportunities in high school, such as internships and apprenticeships, according to the YouScience survey.
But regardless of where a student falls on this spectrum, they need guidance.
And with most schools generally staffing one school counselor for hundreds of students, it can be challenging to provide students adequate guidance toward helping them discover their interests and talents, Therriault observes. But she does see progress in how educators are beginning to perceive CTE and college preparedness.
“I see more of a convergence than I’ve ever seen between career and technical education pathways and the more traditional [college-prep] schooling,” Therriault said. “It used to be a big challenge to get those folks to even talk to each other, and I believe they both see value in one another. I see more CTE schools interested in college readiness, and I see more traditional high schools interested in providing some sort of career-technical education and training opportunities.”
