West Texas A&M University’s Office of Career and Professional Development is introducing a new aptitude and interests assessment called YouScience to students which will replace the previously used program, MyPlan.

According to the YouScience site, “YouScience is the science of YOU – how your mind is wired, what makes you tick, the skills and knowledge that set you apart. You have talent and there’s a path that’s right for you – we can help you find it.”

Through a series of 11 brain games, the program assesses a variety of aptitudes, including Idea Generation, Numerical Reasoning and Work Approach. It also assesses Interpersonal Style, which determines whether an individual is an Introvert, Extrovert or what the program calls a “Blended Energizer.” In addition, the program asks users to rate interest in a variety of jobs, which will determine what career interests the person has, including categories such as Realistic, Artistic, Social and Conventional.

Based on all of these results, YouScience determines what careers are a good or bad fit, but also what different aptitude results mean in everyday life, including at work, school and in social situations.

Since YouScience integrates so many different pieces with a variety of aptitudes and interest profiling, in addition to the unique brain games used for the aptitude assessment piece, it is able to give a more complete, individualized profile for students than other assessments.

According to research conducted by the University of Missouri, both male and female students taking the YouScience assessment demonstrate equal aptitude for careers in four industries (manufacturing, computer technology, construction and healthcare). While there are currently workforce gender gaps, one such example being a lack of women in STEM careers, YouScience demonstrates that these gaps are not due to a lack of ability in either gender for working in certain fields.

In many career assessments, especially those based solely on interest profiling, there is a gender gap in terms of less females being matched with STEM careers and less males being matched with careers in patient-centered health care. YouScience is not a solution to these workforce gender gaps, but it helps students to recognize their personal strengths and not simply rely on what society is telling them they ought to be good at based on their gender.

Each of the 11 brain games takes about five to eight minutes, so the full assessment takes one hour to an hour and a half. However, each brain game is a separate assessment, so it is easy to break up the full assessment and only do one or two games a day until all are completed.

“Even though it does take a little bit of time…the results are so worth it,” said Abby Betts, senior career development coordinator at the Office of Career and Professional Development. “They can be so helpful and really enlightening to you.”

An email containing a personal activation link for YouScience was sent out on Sept. 10 to all registered WTAMU students. If the message was looked over or deleted, it may be located by searching “YouScience” within the student email account.

If you did not receive the email, contact Abby Betts to get a personal activation link: [email protected].

This story was updated on Oct. 4, 2021 for formatting and style.