I need help deciding a career so I can start applying to the right colleges.

I would share with you to start a journal if you have not done so already. Keep track of the things that excite you, the things that you are passionate about. Deciding on a career is very difficult, and the more you experience through learning and internships your career choices may change which is not a bad thing.

In parallel to starting a journal, if you have the opportunity you should volunteer within the fields you are interested in to give you a sense of what it is like. Volunteering also gives you access to talk with some of the professionals within specific fields. Another idea would be to reach out to your guidance counselor to see if they have contacts of professionals in different fields who you could reach out to or contacts of former students at your school within your field of interest who are in college so you can hear about their experiences.

The ingredients to the right colleges, equates what is right for you on many different factors to lead you to a successful career. If you still feel you can't pin down deciding on a career, maybe researching colleges that have multiple disciplines of studies. There are a lot of students at the time of college selection who still not sure about the career of their choice.

Agreed with Monica - we often feel pressure to pick the career we are going to have for the rest of our lives at an early age, but this is just not how the world typically works. Some people know their dream and pursue it, and things fall into place, but generally you have to find something that interests you and pays the bills, and from there you will have other opportunities that may lead you down paths you never considered.

In High School I would have never considered myself heading for the business world - always wanted to be either a journalist or a teacher. But, once I saw the prospects for a career in print journalism, and when I actually took education courses in college, I realized neither was the right choice for me for a long term career. I began working in Financial Services, which led me to an office setting and later my MBA and a career in leadership.

Hi Savannah! It's great that you are thinking of this before applying to colleges, but don't feel trapped or stuck if you don't know exactly what you want to do yet. I didn't figure out what I wanted to do, exactly, until after college. Frankly, I didn't really nail it until after I had started my career. You just need to know the DIRECTION you want to go. What industries or fields interest you? If it's multiple things, then is there a common ground among the options? Look at schools that have good programs in the direction you want to go. And if you really have zero idea...take the next steps anyway! Just start applying to good schools and see where that leads. Whatever you do, don't wait to take the next steps until you have the perfect picture in your mind of what you want to do. That may take years to form...and that's totally OK! :)

Hi Savannah. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I started college, and in college is where I developed a liking for the field I am in today, Human Resources. There is so much pressure these days to figure out what we want to do at such an early age. My advice is don't rush it. In your first couple of years in college you take foundational courses (general education). When in school talk to different people, advisors, professors, classmates and learn about different majors. If you are interested in the medical field look at what positions are out there, and find out more about them. You can declare a major later on. Definitely leverage the faculty at the college you are in - they can be a great resource.

Hi Savannah,

That is a good question! When you nearing the end of high school, it's very easy to feel overwhelmed with "what-if" thoughts and needing to decide on a set career path at this very moment. Although, you think it needs to be figured out right away this is not true at all. If you're already doing well in school it gives you an advantage for all the opportunities that you possibly accomplish!

What I think would be most helpful is to find the common theme amongst all your likes. Try to find people in those fields or areas that you can talk to and get a general idea of what there day-to-day's are like, along with what path they went through to get there.

I wouldn't feel rushed to find that exact perfect path for yourself, but continue to do well in school and that's half the battle to find what you really want to do!

What a great question and I wished I would have spent more time thinking about this before I went to college.  I changed my major 3 times before locking down on Business with a minor in Marketing.  However, today I am a Human Resources Business Partner and my business major helped me tremendously achieve getting this position even though my education was not in HR.

If you are not sure "what you want to be when you grow up" then I would say going to any college to get any degree is fine. With a degree you will have a lot of options to get a job when you graduate. My wife majored in Biology and went on to get a Masters in Physical Therapy and she is a Physical Therapist. I majored in Art and ended up getting into Sales at a large technology company after I graduated. In the technology industry, Data Scientist is a rapidly growing job that will be needed by most companies as they go through digital transformation.

I went to a community college straight out of high school and it was one of the best decisions for me. I took all the general education classes while I was "figuring out myself" and then transferred to the local university after graduation. The community college is also a lot cheaper for the same education. And most employers only care about your last university, not all the ones before it.