The deadline for choosing majors is now nearing, and I have no idea what I’d like to do as a career in the future.
I am exceptional at editing videos (for projects, etc. received lots of praise and have won FBLA video competition at a national level). I also have a great sense of design and aesthetics.
(extra info: I excelled in my psychology and sociology class, as well as all my math classes. I have also received near perfect marks on my essay exams, and am currently learning 4 languages. )
What career or area would I excel in? I’m very lost on what path I should pursue, so I’d like some information that can help lead me in the right direction.
Keep in mind that you are not picking a career right now. You are choosing a major, a course of study, but what career path you end up on can vary widely after graduating. I started as a graphic design major, switched to psychology, now work as a human resources manager, and I’m applying to PhD programs this coming fall. You can also change your major after taking a few introductory courses in topics you’re interested in.
That being said, design and psychology pair well together. Good design and marketing requires an understanding of how people perceive the messages you’re trying to send.
There’s a difference in doing well in a field and enjoying a field. There are many people who can do well in multitudes of fields while not enjoying any of them. As the two previous people have stated/implied…
With that being said, you really need to think about what you enjoy and what job characteristics would be ideal for you. As a forewarning, be weary of choosing specialized majors in your undergrad, many times I will find people who study fashion journalism or video game design then wonder why they have trouble getting web design or news journalism jobs. Typically it’s better to start broad and then become specialized.
As for the last bit of NovaLynnx’s comment, most human study fields are just complimentary degrees that usually require graduate or post-graduate degrees to be useful on their own in most situations. What I mean by this is that psychology, philosophy, sociology, gender studies, and so on, will improve your odds for many jobs when paired with another degree but usually require further education in that field due to the lack of demand for low level graduates of those fields.
Can’t tell you how many people I know try and market their degrees in areas that they rarely are prominent;
History majors claiming to be the best candidates for any research type job due to their research skills
Education majors claiming to be the best candidates for any supervisor/managerial job due to their training skills
Psychology/Sociology majors claiming to be the best candidates for any human-related job due to their understanding of people
Those “complimentary” degrees do not strictly require grad school to perform well in the workforce and build a career. I have never taken a business course, and I could continue up the ranks into senior HR and other business roles without ever returning to school, assuming I perform well (the “favorites” game comes into play in some jobs, but that’s another discussion).
Once you land your first job, what you do with it is more important than what major you chose unless you are in a very specialized field, such as nursing. Employers want to know what skills you learned and how you performed. Networking and finding mentors to help you strategize your career will also be crucial to your success.
I’ve known an English major who started her own finance company, a history major who became an admissions counselor at a college, and a math major who is in an unrelated management position. In my experience, I find it can be easier to build a career in a nontraditional path than in a traditional one. Not every psychology major can become a psychologist; there simply isn’t the need for that many (psychology being one of the most popular majors at many schools), and the competition for clinical programs can be fierce. Not all artists can support themselves with their art, and not all English majors can be publishing assistants.
For those reasons, you do need to be strategic while still in school to market yourself for your first “real” job. As an education major, if you want more options than just teaching then you need to develop other skills and experiences, primarily through internships, to support the more broad application of your major. You can’t just tell a prospective employer that you know about something, or know how to do something, if you’ve never actually held a position that required you to do that thing. I think this is what @Noteworthy was trying to say, but grad school isn’t alway the answer. I am a huge proponent of taking electives outside of your major and gaining experience in different settings while still in undergrad. I personally have never felt qualified for a human services role, and I ended up relying more on my part-time work experience during college to get me into the position I have today. I had real world situations to discuss. A degree was just the cherry on top.
This is what I meant when I said you’re not choosing a career right now, you’re choosing a major. You do not need to follow the traditional path of psychology -> psychologist, or graphic design -> graphic designer. You can branch out and go in different directions after graduating. You just need to find ways of proving your qualifications and gaining experience.