That’s the neat part: you don’t.

Truthfully, it’s a huge thing to ask an eighteen-year-old to plan for the rest of their life over the next couple of years. For some people, they might need to take a year or two off before even thinking about going to school again; others, they might go to a trade school instead, or just not even bother with college all together.

I think the “best general advice” I would give is to just try out community college for a bit and take classes, join clubs, and/or participate in activities that interest you - don’t even worry about gen ed stuff until you’re sure you want to continue into a 4-year college for a bachelor’s or higher degree. Start working jobs that either genuinely interest you or offer a decent wage & benefits so you can at least have some sort of “work experience” to fall back on, and just explore stuff that interests you or sounds interesting. And if you’re in the camp of “I don’t have any interests”, then do random shit and see what sticks or not.

In general, I think the worst thing to do after high school is nothing and stay stuck in the same position in life. As long as you’re doing something that you want to do, that’s gonna be a step in the right direction.