Exploring Between SHS Strand and College Course Mismatch: Bridging the Gap Through School Policy on Intensified Career Guidance Program

One of the salient features of the Senior High School curriculum is that every student in this recent generation is prepared for their future career and ready to face challenges. The success of this endeavor is believed to be measured by the graduates' alignment of the high school strand and the course they have to pursue in college. There is however a noticeable situation in which students enroll in college courses that are not associated with their track or strand of senior high school. One of the major reasons that some students lose interest in college is the gap between their high school experiences and their college expectations which is the subject of this study. To determine whether there was a mismatch between the enrolled strand of the students who graduated from SY 2017 – 2018 to SY 2018 – 2019 and their enrolled courses in college, descriptive research methodology was utilized. The mismatch rate is high between the strand of the learners during their senior high school and the course they enrolled in college. It is revealed that for the school year 2017-2018 the rate of mismatch is thirty-nine percent (39%) and thirty-one percent (31%) for the SY 2018-2019. Family pressure, accessibility of the program in the nearby university, and friends and peer pressure are the topmost among the reasons cited by students who did not take the college course align with their strand. Implementation of an enhanced career guidance program, policy brief, and intensified monitoring and evaluation are recommended.