Sorry to impose myself on the parents forum, but I’m kind of curious about two things
-What degree you got in college (and anything afterwards)
-What job you now have.
I figure a large part of college is realizing everything out there. At the moment, my knowledge of professions is fairly limited. Most people have gone for ‘trades’ to a degree in my family, ranging from funeral director to doctor. However I’d like to know how distant people go form their degrees–even with my teachers, a fair number came from a very different area before coming to our school.
Thank you.
I’m not sure how much help this will be…but…
My bachelors and masters are in speech pathology…and I was a career speech pathologist.
My post masters work was in a variety of education related areas including reading, administration, and special education.
B.S. in Biology
A.A.S. in Respiratory Therapy
Almost two semesters of computer programming classes in community college
J.D. - currently a practicing government lawyer.
B.S. Civil Engineering
Navy commission, nuclear engineer
Left Navy after 7 years to pursue IT Career
MBA
System analyst to technical project manager to system architect roles
M.S. Medical Informatics
Currently working as IT Sales Consultant for Fortune 100 Compan
What a long, strange trip it’s been.
I always knew I’d work in the “computer” field as they called it back in the day. My path is boring comparatively…
A.S. in Computer Programming
B.S. in Computer Information Systems
B.A. in Computer Science
M.S. in Computer Information Systems
Chief Information Officer in higher education
BA in sociology, JD afterwards. Have been trial attorney, special ed hearing officer, traffic Court Judge and now run a nonprofit devoted to lung health advocacy and education.
H has a BA in accounting and worked for 45 years on computers, systems analysis, telecommunications.
S has BEE and works on robotics, project management, wearable tech and EE.
My relatives with teaching degrees teach, in classrooms or as tutors. The MDs are practicing medicine, JDs are practicing law, DDS is being a dentist.
I’m not sure what your question is designed to do. Perhaps career counseling at your school can help guide you or help you with shadowing or mentirship opportunities.
You should check with your HS guidance department about careers. There are aptitude/interest tests out there- community colleges and four year colleges/U’s have career centers as well with tests available.
People have many facets, interests, aptitudes et al. Many possible paths. Need to ultimately choose one to do at a time- can change later.
The Book of Majors (from Collegeboard) is pretty useful. It gives degree info and possible career options for each one.
BS in biochemistry and physiology. Was thinking med school. Applied to one, got waitlisted.
Worked in a lab, got into computer programming, worked as a programmer for 4 years.
Went to law school.
Passed the patent bar, did patent law for a year pr so.
Worked as a court attorney (judicial clerk) for 17 years.
Hung out shingle, worked as a trust/estate lawyer for 9 years (so far).
Still love programming. And biology. And my current work.
An earlier thread on the same basic question:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1953678-where-did-your-major-get-you-p1.html
I graduated 34 years ago:
BA in Religious Studies
Started but did not finish a Master of Divinity
I have worked in IT in higher ed for the past 15 years. Before that, I mostly worked in administrative assistant type positions.
BS in Accounting
Worked as a CPA, a consultant, and in municipal bond finance.
All in the business arena, but very different jobs.
B.A. in History and Political Science
M.Litt. in International Security Studies
J.D.
Currently, own a small firm in the “flyover” and practice corporate/transactional and real estate law.
I think the OP asks a great question. Very few people know all of the career possibilities when they start (and even when they finish) college.
There’s a reason why little kids always say things like “teacher” or “firefighter” when you ask them what they want to be when they grow up. They’re just telling you the things they know, not what they really want.
A better question for college kids is “what FIRST job can this major lead to?” Because it’s the first job that will lead to the next, and to the first career.
BS in Business Administration with emphasis in accounting. First job out of college was an auditor with a Big 4 accounting firm (was the Big 8 when I started). Majored in accounting because I thought that I would have my own business and that accounting background would help with back office stuff. However, you never know where life will take you. I have only worked for others in my career, but at each place after KPMG I have had an ownership stake.
BS in Agriculture (Forestry)
First job out of college was with a Landscape Management Company in a large city where I mowed grass and supervised a crew of guys for four months - that’s all I could handle of that - but the crew was great.
Got a temp job for 2 years with a Federal Government Agency
Then got a permanent job with the same Agency at about 27 years old.
Retired after 25 years.
Had to relocate several times for promotions/job advancement.
Husband had same career path with the same degree, but it took him until he was 30 to get his first permanent job.
There aren’t as many “pure” Forestry degree programs now. Most are more in the broader area of “Natural Resource Management” which was necessary given the decline in Professional Forester positions, but the curriculum has been watered down a lot (as far as percentage of forestry related classes in the curriculum).
Similar degrees would be: Outdoor Recreation, Wildlife Biology, Hydrology, Entomology, Botany, Soil Science, Geography/GIS, Environmental Studies, Communications, Range Management, etc.
If I had to do it all over again, I would’ve gotten a Masters in Ornithology - I think that would have been more up my alley.
BS in Architectural Engineering (the engineering of buildings - I didn’t go Civil Engineering because I wasn’t interested in roads, drainage, etc.).
MS in Engineering
Worked for a few design firms as a structural engineer. My husband (also a structural engineer - we met in grad school) and I started our own company in 1999. We run it out of our home. It’s a good field, but does cycle with the economy so some years are lean and some years (like this one) are crazy busy.
BS in Accounting, Economics and Finance (triple major)
JD
Worked in Big Law, doing mostly commercial real estate and real estate finance, for 15+ years, then moved to the business side doing commercial real estate finance and securitization for a large international financial institution.
@wis75 @intparent Thank you for your suggestions. This was partly prompted because I think there’s some jobs you’ll never hear about til someone tells you–for example, one of my brother’s friends now has a job essentially calculating the most cost effective routes for things to go and how after a certain mileage you have to consider the curvature of the earth etc.
Thank you all for telling me about these paths ^^
“I think there’s some jobs you’ll never hear about til someone tells you”
I also keep hearing that most of the jobs that will need to be filled in 5-10 years don’t even exist yet.