<p>Well, I'm pretty sure no one is going to be able to help me much with this one, but I just thought I'd ask. To give a little background, I'm a college sophomore at ASU (here on a national merit scholarship) who has over 100 credits and no idea what I want to do. In high school I always thought I was going to be a doctor, but I'm just not sure I have a passion for it. I'm currently a Classics major, but not sure I have what it takes to be a full-fledged academic. I've considered law, but I think I only consider because I don't know the details of the career. In short, I was wondering if I gave y'all a little background, if you might be able to at least suggest a certain path. I do well in all my classes, never have had to work hard in them, and I'm interested in almost every one (this semester i'm taking O Chem, 2 Latin classes, a history class, Bible as Lit ((its not a joke class, i promise))) I'll be honest, I like going out, I like playing golf, soccer (I was supposed to go to college on a soccer scholarship, but broke my leg senior year)....and I'm going to want to have a comfortable lifestyle. Some concrete stats, my GPA is a 3.94, my SATS were a 1520. I just have no idea of what I actually want to do...is this common? Anyway, if anyone has suggestions, please just let them all fly. I've had this love for sports since i was a kid, so kinda always wanted to do something like be an agent or something, but I've never been crazy about finance/econ classes. Anyway, any responses would be awesome. Thanks....</p>
<p>Well, I couldnt really offer you any good advice...but I want to ask you a question about ASU if that's ok...</p>
<p>What is this Bible as Lit class?
And I want to take courses like REL 100 or ASB (beginning anthro, dont remember the #)....have you taken them...are they good courses? I am really interested in societies and religions...so I was just seeing if they would be good classes to take. Thanks! </p>
<p>Maybe be a hotel manager....that always seemed exciting to me lol</p>
<p>Does your school have a Career Center? I'd recommend going in there--you may be able to take some of those career-aptitude tests or even just talk to someone who specializes in this kind of thing. </p>
<p>Careers related to sports...sports nutritionist? sports psychologist? Would you consider being a high school teacher (perhaps in the classics) and coaching sports?</p>
<p>JPArsenal87: I have some quick pieces of advice for you. Avidly and energetically try to figure out the answer to this question, and start NOW. Don't **** away your time in college staring at the wall wondering. Don't do what I did (note I am happy with where I've ended up, but I might have gotten here quicker or figured out something good to do in another field).</p>
<p>A good way to figure out what you want is as follows:</p>
<p>1) Talk to people who do, or once did and now don't do, what it is you think you might want to do. Like doctors. Preferably, in addition to finding lots of enthusiastic doctors, you could find doctors who eventually decided to leave the profession. Ask why they did.
2) I hate to say this, but personality determines destiny a lot more than intelligence does much of the time. I wanted initially to follow in my Dad's footsteps and become a doctor, and supposedly have a quite high IQ, but I have zero personality to be a doctor. I like change too much and lack that long-term focus that would have been required. I worked in a consulting/accounting firm for awhile. I felt like I was more intelligent than most of my co-workers, but they were more able than I was at least in terms of the work we did: their personalities fit the firm and our jobs better. So, go out and take a Myers-Briggs test and other personality tests and try to figure out how your mind works and what your personality is, in a typology framework. There is a reasonably good book called "Do What You Are." Many people are skeptical of the personality typologies, but I found them to be valuable in one sense: "they are good compasses, not road maps." I was always convincing myself I was interested in stuff that I had no suitability for, and going through these steps helped me hone my instincts.
3) Go to a career counselor.
4) Make summer plans to explore all sorts of professions that are of interest to you. You think you want to be a journalist? Go and get an internship and see if you like the milieu. You think you want to make films, go be a go-fer in Hollywood. You think you want to be a sports agent, get yourself into one of the agencies if only to be a coffee runner.
5) Not having a clue of what you want to do is normal, and it makes a lot of sense. The one thing that used to bother me when people asked me what I wanted to do is that I had no idea what was really involved in a lot of the professions or jobs out there. Being a doctor always sounded good because of the prestige, for instance, but though my dad was one, I still didn't know what the day in the life of a doctor was really like. </p>
<p>You sound really smart. Put some focus in your punch bowl -- not focus toward a particular career, focus toward getting experiences and figuring this out first -- and you will rule the world.</p>
<p>The career center advice is good. I'm sure that they can give you some ideas.</p>
<p>Also, think of this. If you could do anything in the world - within reason - what would it be?</p>
<p>As for sports and a comfortable living, agent sounds good. A background in law could help with that. You could also look into sports psychology.</p>
<p>Maybe business....with a bus degree you can work in a lot of diferent fields.or open your own business.</p>
<p>Actually, getting a law degree doesn't limit you to law. It opens up doors for almost anything in government, if that's your thing.</p>
<p>But if you don't want to practice law, law school is an expensive and inefficient way to refine your higher level skills. There are a lot of options. If you want to be an agent, though, legal skills could be right on the money. Law is involved there.</p>
<p>bump (10char)</p>
<p>***? are these the same person?</p>
<p>everybody wants to be a doctor. reason I dont trust em, any dope can become one.</p>
<p>Anyone, with enough hard work, can become pretty much anything...</p>
<p>It seems silly, however, not to at least give some benefit of a doubt to MDs, whose training is known for being extremely rigorous.</p>
<p>OP, I agree it's best to run over to Career Center where they'll have descriptions and materials on professions you've never heard of. My daughter's college also had alumni in many fields, willing to be e-mailed for these kinds of inquiries about what their worklife was like. She made an appointment with a career counselor who put her through some kind of self-test program to help her define her working style and through that, pick her goals. From that, it became easier for her to choose a profession.</p>
<p>If something catches your interest with this on-campus process, then you might ask in your community if you can shadow someone at work for a day. People are usually happy to do this for others. Your dad might know people in many kinds of work, and if you happen to be involved in a church, ask the minister/priest/rabbi who in the congregation does that work. You'd be amazed at the networking that happens this way. Check it out over the summer and job-shadow.</p>
<p>Anyway, I can't get very far with what you wrote, but I did think of some. I always seem to generate low-paying professions, so don't count on me here, but check median salaries for professions on the US Dept. of Labor's list of Occupations. (They also describe them, what training is required, $$, but they do make everything sound kind dorky.) </p>
<p>But, have you considered...sports journalist? physical or occupational therapist? Tour/travel guide? Publishing?</p>