How to Choose a Career For the College Bound Student

How do you decide what to major in at school? The best advice is to follow your heart and not your wallet. Here are some thoughts to consider as you choose your destiny.

Things You'll Need

• Notepad and pen
• Computer

Instructions

1. What do you most enjoy doing in your spare time? What do you want people to say or remember about you after you have lived and died? What can you contribute to the world because your natural talents need to be expressed and recognized? Think about these questions carefully. Answer them in an essay to yourself, and your true destiny will begin to reveal itself.

2. There are some big umbrellas that you can use to think about what you should major in when you go to college. They include art, science, mathematics, engineering, technology, business and the helping fields.

3. If you spend most of your free time acting in school plays or dancing and you love doing these things, you should consider a career in the arts. This may involve teaching, theater work or creating artwork of some kind. You can start your college career in a general studies BA program and decide on a school that offers the specialty you are thinking will be right for you.

4. If you stay awake at night doing equations in your head, math, science or engineering may be for you. (If you put yourself to sleep this way, find another field). You can embark on a BS program and take some courses before deciding which area is best for your talents and interests. Even if you are really good at math, you might not want to major in it if you don't enjoy it. Some would be bored to death in an accounting career, while others would thrive on it.

5. Computer aficionados and others who are obsessed with this area should look at a computer science or software engineering major. Again, starting out in a BS general studies program may open your eyes to something that you love even more than your laptop.

6. 

   When in doubt, teach. Work toward a teaching degree and if you don't love being with kids, consider teaching at the college level. This will entail graduate studies, so you may end up doing something else entirely or working toward teaching later in life.

7. Remember, you can always change your mind and your career. Most of us have several careers over the course of our lives and there is much to be said for variety. Staying too long on a job or in a career we have outgrown is a waste of your life's time and talents.

8. If you really want to help people or improve the world in some way, try nursing, social work or politics. This world needs more people like you who truly care about the world, the environment and other people.

9. 

   Whatever you ultimately choose to do, be fulfilled, happy and productive. And if you're not, start the destiny search all over again.

Tips & Warnings

• Take your time. This is not a decision you want to rush.

• Stretch yourself. If you are not challenged, you will be bored in a "safe" career.

• Don't do what your parents want you to do just because you don't see a clear alternative.