The biggest problem with the Planning for Your Future night is its restrictions. Naturally the school is unable to setup a booth for every possible career and every college. While this problem is understandable, it presents an issue for those being forced to attend: they aren’t learning anything valuable. Many students have already done intense research on the career they want to get into and have compiled lists of colleges that offer strong programs for the field. Having already done the exact tasks that the Planning for Your Future night facilitates, the requirement becomes a nuisance rather than a resource. Furthermore, as many students may be intimidated by the environment of the event, offering them the opportunity to skip it will instigate this personalized exploration, which is much more beneficial. Giving students this chance not only supports a tailor-made career path, but it rewards independence.

The idea behind the night is to walk students through the process of choosing colleges and careers. Instead of penalizing students for choosing to do this task on their own, they should be rewarded with an exemption. The difference between the two is the same as using floaties while swimming or not; and everyone knows floaties will never get you to the Olympics.

For many students, the Planning for Your Future night is very beneficial as it offers many opportunities to learn about careers and different universities. However, several students have all of these things figured out already. Instead of punishing these self-navigating students for their independence, they should be given an exemption from the what would be pointless event.