Career Concerns

College Confidential Community
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm having a bit of a problem and was hoping if anyone could help me out. Really appreciate any responses.</p>

<p>I am a political science student with two semesters left. I'm having a pretty intense career crisis as I seem to be interested in everything but what I am currently doing. I have followed all of the "do what you are interested in" advice and was happy with my degree choice until a few months ago. I joined political science not to necessarily be in politics (told a lot of people are like that) and not necessarily to be a lawyer. What I wanted to do is sort of do a half philosophy / personal enrichment degree while still studying somewhat real life functions. In the end, I think I wanted to simply be a business person. However, I have no one to talk to about this type of stuff and I just don't know where to start. I feel as though its time to start working and I'm frightened that I haven't learned enough. I often times wish I would have just went into science or math, become an engineer or something like that. I am a very "put your dues in" kind of person and I sort of feel like I haven't. I have really sacrificed a lot personally to be successful professionally, and I feel like it will be for not. Any advice or if maybe you want to share your experiences with this would really be appreciated.</p>

<p>Either way, I am not one to use so many "I's" I hope you can forgive the narcissism.</p>

<p>Thanks very much</p>

2

<p>I’m not sure where you exactly want to be: you said you want to be a businessman but regretted wanting to go into science or engineering. If you want to be a businessman, I’m sure your political science degree is quite marketable in terms of being able to read, write, think, communicate, and research. I suggest you pick up a few business courses, maybe a minor and then highly highly suggest doing an internship. Defintely the internship counts above everything else.</p>

3

<p>An internship is a great way to both evaluate a particular career area and to give yourself a huge advantage when looking for a permanent position. If you have a strong internship in an area of business, for example, whether your degree is PoliSci or Business won’t matter that much. Experience and a great reference will trump coursework in those areas. (For fields like engineering, architecture, or computer science, specific coursework and a degree ARE important.)</p>