6 answers
Kendall
Student
Dalton, Massachusetts
3
Questions
Asked
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Starting point
Where would be a good starting point for someone who doesn't know what they would like to pursue for a career or schooling? #college #career
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6 answers
Gloria Ortiz
Instructional Designer
845
Answers
Irving, Texas
Updated
Gloria’s Answer
Hi Kendall,
You have gotten some great advice. It is good to think about what you like and how you see your future. If you feel like college is in your future, I would recommend starting as a Liberal Arts major. This type of program is designed to expose you to a wide variety of subjects. Some people I know who have started with this program then change their majors if they want to have more specialization. Some people actually graduate with the degree and still have the ability to do a wide variety of jobs. And one thing that I have learned in my life, just having a college degree, any degree, gives you a strategic advantage in the workplace.
Gloria
Read: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/what-you-can-do-with-a-liberal-arts-degree
You have gotten some great advice. It is good to think about what you like and how you see your future. If you feel like college is in your future, I would recommend starting as a Liberal Arts major. This type of program is designed to expose you to a wide variety of subjects. Some people I know who have started with this program then change their majors if they want to have more specialization. Some people actually graduate with the degree and still have the ability to do a wide variety of jobs. And one thing that I have learned in my life, just having a college degree, any degree, gives you a strategic advantage in the workplace.
Gloria
Gloria recommends the following next steps:
Blake H.
Business
478
Answers
Updated
Blake’s Answer
Hey Kendall,
First off this is completely normal, so don't stress! To answer your question about career path, I would recommend taking a career interest survey online (myplan.com is a highly rated survey). For school selection, I would see what your career interest survey says and then look up schools that specialize in that area. Another major factor is the financing of the school. There are schools that are significantly more expensive than others, so the best thing would be to understand what you can afford, etc. to make that determination.
Hope this helps!
Blake
First off this is completely normal, so don't stress! To answer your question about career path, I would recommend taking a career interest survey online (myplan.com is a highly rated survey). For school selection, I would see what your career interest survey says and then look up schools that specialize in that area. Another major factor is the financing of the school. There are schools that are significantly more expensive than others, so the best thing would be to understand what you can afford, etc. to make that determination.
Hope this helps!
Blake
Megan B
Finance
2
Answers
Charlotte, North Carolina
Updated
Megan’s Answer
A lot of colleges offer exploratory majors for freshman years. In addition, talking or shadowing people in different occupations might be a good starting point as well. You could always start by eliminating the career paths you know you don't like and then researching and finding out more about the ones that do interestyou
F Islam
Student
2
Answers
Fairfax, Virginia
Updated
F’s Answer
Figure out which subjects you don't like. I realized early on that I like history, writing, and cultural studies - I was active in Model UN and I loved that environment. I knew that I hated physics, knowing that I'd have to take physics junior year of high school motivated me to switch schools; once I did I explored all the humanities classes offered.
It's easier to figure out what you don't like versus what you do like.
It's easier to figure out what you don't like versus what you do like.
Zoe LaPorte
Design Researcher
2
Answers
San Francisco, California
Updated
Zoe’s Answer
I agree with the other answers here, remember the first step is often just to TRY something 😊Lists and narrowing are great strategies but used to totally overwhelm me when I had no idea where to start. Part of the problem early on is you don't always have enough examples of what you like in the first place.
Take classes that spark your curiosity and think about majors that allow you to do more of that thing. If you're in a class that you love, teachers can help you brainstorm careers that allow you to do more of the parts that you enjoy. I found taking a highlighter to a course catalog and starting with a couple of interesting classes was a great way to get more information. Make note of the subjects that you look forward to or lose track of time working on, and the ones you don't. 😊
Best of luck! You got this!
Take classes that spark your curiosity and think about majors that allow you to do more of that thing. If you're in a class that you love, teachers can help you brainstorm careers that allow you to do more of the parts that you enjoy. I found taking a highlighter to a course catalog and starting with a couple of interesting classes was a great way to get more information. Make note of the subjects that you look forward to or lose track of time working on, and the ones you don't. 😊
Best of luck! You got this!
Matthew Eby
Strategic and Operational Consulting
26
Answers
Sarasota, Florida
Updated
Matthew’s Answer
I think a good point for starting off in deciding which degree to career to select is by creating three lists: 1) which careers have work where you can make decent money, 2) which careers have work that you are good at doing, 3) which careers have work that you enjoy doing.
When you are first starting out list 1 is more important than list 2 or 3. As you build your experience and career, you can then increase the importance of the other two lists.
Then select a major that is in line with your career choices from the lists above.
When selecting a major, I think that it's important to select a major that is more applied than general. What I mean is that it's better to be trained to actually perform a specific job when you graduate from college as opposed to having general skills. For example, it's better to have an accounting degree than general business, it's better to have an engineering degree than general physics.
I made this mistake when I graduated from college. I had a finance degree as opposed to taking the extra classes to finish an accounting degree. It was harder to find a job and the salary was about half.
You are not alone in trying to get focused on these decisions but they get easier with practice.
It's a process and a journey. Enjoy it and best of luck.
Create a list with careers that interest you.
Narrow the list down to those that will pay you well.
Narrow that list down to those that you can do well.
Narrow that list down to those that you enjoy or love doing.
Notice how many choices that you have eliminated.
When you are first starting out list 1 is more important than list 2 or 3. As you build your experience and career, you can then increase the importance of the other two lists.
Then select a major that is in line with your career choices from the lists above.
When selecting a major, I think that it's important to select a major that is more applied than general. What I mean is that it's better to be trained to actually perform a specific job when you graduate from college as opposed to having general skills. For example, it's better to have an accounting degree than general business, it's better to have an engineering degree than general physics.
I made this mistake when I graduated from college. I had a finance degree as opposed to taking the extra classes to finish an accounting degree. It was harder to find a job and the salary was about half.
You are not alone in trying to get focused on these decisions but they get easier with practice.
It's a process and a journey. Enjoy it and best of luck.
Matthew recommends the following next steps: