Start Your Career Now. Now!

One of the most common complaints about high school is that it doesn't prepare you for a career in the real world. We at SparkNotes disagree. High school can offer you a start in any number of careers, and you can actually try some of them out while you're there—including newspaper reporter, actor, scientist, and criminal.

That's why we were so excited to hear about this internship program aimed at high school and college students who are looking ahead to med school. It got us thinking: Why can't more jobs provide high schoolers with opportunities like this? Which in turn got us thinking: There's absolutely no reason why they can't. We suggest the follow career previews:

Stockbroker. We're not aware of any programs out there that let teens get a taste of what it's like to buy and sell securities on commission. We envision a junior stockbroker program that requires students to wake up at four in the morning, spend 16 hours on the phone, go to bed when the Tokyo Stock Exchange closes, and get an hour of sleep before doing it again. A spinoff floor-trader program will concentrate mostly on conditioning participants by exposing them to constant yelling and abuse. (Although gym class already has that one covered.)

Spy. Who wouldn't love to learn all about cover IDs, disguises, codes, and all that other Burn Notice stuff? After you gain a few months of hands-on, eyes-only experience, you'll be all set to infiltrate any organization, get people to divulge secrets without even realizing it, and later use that information to your benefit. Equipped with these skills, you'll never again have to wonder whether your crush is crushing back or is totally into your best friend.

Consultant. Just think what would happen if you gave high school students a chance to roll up their sleeves and really get elbow-deep in re-imagining outside-the-box branding synergies, leveraging expansion opportunities, and deconstructing multilevel missioning paradigm vision values. Best part is, after completing this program, Sparklers will be able to explain to us what those words mean, because we have no idea.

Astronaut. Aspiring woodworkers, mechanics, and human ecologists get all sorts of expensive stuff to practice with, but what about the kids who want to go into space? Would it really bust the school budget to spring for a simple flight simulator, a centrifuge, a zero-gravity training pool, a Vomit Comet rental, and a couple dozen spacesuits? We don't think so.

Let us know in the comments which careers you'd like to take a crack at before you graduate.