How do you go about choosing the type of career that you want to do?

You're in a really great position because you have so many interests. At the same time, having many interests can sometimes feel paralyzing because picking something may feel like letting go of other interests. I've been there in the past. I would advise you to try to understand what you enjoy about each passion, and what the career path for each passion is like. This will help you decide which one or ones to pursue.

The careers for each of your passions are quite different. An accountant at a large accounting firm is a prestigious and structured job. It involves work with big businesses, and a lot of time spent on the computer. As you progress, you'll be asked to run departments of accountants. If you do accounting for a company on "main street", then it's likely a 9-5 job with a typical corporate compensation. You can do it from basically anywhere in the country, but it requires a specialized degree to be qualified. It is not traditionally considered a creative job. To explore this further, you should try an internship with an accounting firm, or at least try to find an accountant who will meet with you to answer some questions, and show you what it is like to be in their job (maybe do an office tour?).

If you pursue fashion design, you're going to be working for one of a small number of fashion brands, likely in New York or Milan or some other city where fashion is centered. This would be a very different lifestyle, in a very competitive environment, and the culture of the company you work for will likely feel more competitive, but potentially also fun to work with creative people. At the same time, compensation (possibly lower, but I'm not 100% sure). You should also look into getting an internship at a fashion company to learn more about this. You could also try auditing a fashion design class at one of the design schools in your city - just show up on the first day of the term and ask the professor if you can sit quietly in the back to observe.

If you decide to become a professional performer (singer, choreographer, etc.), then you're going to have a still different lifestyle. To do this professionally requires talent and training. Even with talent and training, only a very small number of people make sufficient money to support themselves entirely based on their singing or choreography, so they often have to keep separate jobs. For those who love performing enough, and are physically able to handle the stress of the lifestyle, it is worth the sacrifice. Find your favorite local singer and ask if you can trail him or her for a day to understand what it's like to be them. Maybe you can volunteer to be an assistant for a long weekend to get an idea of what it is like.

My point is that there are such differences in the careers, that only by exploring them first-hand will you be able to really understand what they FEEL like, and start making decisions.

The good news is that you can lead a very fulfilling life pursuing multiple interests. You have your career, your hobbies, and your friends/family. You can take your multiple interests and try to mix/match them into a great lifestyle. For example, you could be an accountant who dances on the weekends, sings in a band, an has the coolest wardrobe of all of your friends. On the other hand, you could own a fashion brand, do your own accounting for your company, and sing and dance on the weekends. Then you could flip it around and be a singer or dancer, but do some contract accounting work on the side to make some extra cash. These are just a couple of examples - you can always find ways in the future that will suit your goals.

It's wonderful that you know what you love to do and what you are good at. Give yourself time to explore lots of options. If you go to college, take a variety of courses in your first two years in finance, accounting, business, not-for-profit administration (where you could be an accountant or a business manager in a music or design organization), and anything else in which you have an interest. By the time you become a college junior, you should have a better idea where you'd like to focus. Volunteering in different businesses or doing internships during the summer or after school will also give you "on the job" experience to see what it is like to work in different fields. Also, talk to people who run boutiques, who are fashion designers, who are singers or accountants to learn what their normal day or week is like. Give yourself time. You'll always be exploring and learning and discovering - that is the joy of life!

Hi, I'd suggest going to a large university that offers degree programs in LOTS of areas as well as lots of extra curricular organizations for student involvement. That way you can choose which interests and passions you'd want to pursue from all the available options: academically in the classroom (i.e. Accounting class), getting involved in a student club for entrepreneurs to pursue your post college career interests (i.e. starting a business like a boutique with your business degree and networking connections), and for fun on the side (i.e. choreography for the university dance team).

My current career as a graphic designer evolved from my passions and my hobbies. It was hobby which turned into my full-time job. I started with summing up what I wanted to do with a simple phrase..."I wanted to create things and pop-culture." For you, you don't have to get specific as to job or career just figure out what kind of things you enjoy and would enjoy spending a majority of your time doing. I knew I wanted to create things but not necessarily how or what that looked like until after I went to college to pursue a degree in Advertising. A best sense of getting info about yourself and what you are good at is asking family and friends. They know you better than you may know yourself.

Look at your hobbies, what you spend your time doing and what you things you like. Then figure out why you enjoying those things and you will have a good setting at the kind of qualities in a career you will like. After that search for jobs or professionals who have those qualities and see the steps they took to get that career. I hope this was helpful.

I was in a similar situation in college in that I had a lot of different interests that could have led to many different career paths. The only way I could decide was through first-hand experience, so I did a lot of internships during both my summers and the school year. I made sure to use each internship as a way to explore the roles other people held at each organization, besides the one that I held. That way, I got a lot of exposure to different roles.

The good news is that if you were to open your own boutique, you'd need to know Accounting so you could make sure your books were in order! There is always a need to use your skills in different ways. Don't fret because the answer will come to you, it just might be a process of experimentation instead of a straight path. When I was in college, I changed my major many times because I had lots of interests, too, but I always had one true passion that I knew would resurface somehow. I volunteered for events, activities, on various boards until I noticed that I kept coming back to one theme.

Fifteen years after college, I returned to that original path and have been in that career for a long time now. I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out even if I didn't quite take a straight road to get there! The important thing to remember is to stay open to opportunities, you never know where your road will take you. It's a great and exciting position to be in!