I’m a junior in highschool, and I’m already feeling the heat turning up as I’m getting closer to college. I plan on going to a UC (University of California), don’t really know where exactly, though. But I really do need to find out what I want to do in life first.
(tl;dr at bottom)
So I’ve ruled out medical and mathematical and all those STEM professions, as I’m not good at them. I lean more towards the arts and literature. I personally like art, history, movies, social justice, and reading and writing, but I can’t see myself having the dedication or the skill to hack 4 years away at them and then make a career out of them. I just casually like them all; I don’t have any particular talent or skill associated with them. But they’re the only things I’ve got to go on, so I’ve got to work with them somehow.
I've pretty much ruled out art for obvious reasons (little money, little skill). I did once, last year, consider graphic design lmao.
I like and admire films and television, but that's probably it. I don't have the life-long passion for it like in those film buffs you see around. But I will say that my parents have friends in the foreign movie industry, so if I'm really at ends, I guess I can find refuge there. Maybe editing or screenwriting, idk.
Now, probably the thing I'm best at here is history. I really do like history. I got a 5 on my AP Euro test last year, and I enjoy taking APUSH this year. But what can one do with a history major, looool...? Yes, I really like history, but I can't see a future connected to it. (No teaching, sorry.)
I've been in my school's creative writing club ever since freshman year, and I plan on taking newspaper next year. Funny enough, though, I rarely read or write on my own nowadays. Don't have time. Also, I'm a very very slow writer with little little imagination (my tone is pretty technical and boring), but still, I like to write if I can. So maybe I could be an editor, journalist, etc.
I'm kinda interested in social justice matters. I'm not at all into the whole politics thing (I barely know anything about politics oops), though. I'm actually pretty quiet irl and quite intimidated by outspoken, political, lawyer-y people. But I do have wishes to help people and help some good causes. Government kinda(?) combines my interests in history and English, and pay is better than all my previous options, but I'm still really on the fence. Just thinking about working for te UN or for the central govt seems pretty cool on its own, but it also seems like a huge commitment?? Like, yeah, it'd be nice to be old and look back on all your accomplishments to the world, etc, but I have this feeling I'd be like "Why tf am I doing any of this?? I could be having a nice normal life that I actually enjoy but????"
So yeah. That’s the gist of it.
TL;DR: I have no idea what to major in (much less do in life lmao). Kinda interested in film, history, English, and govt, but not sure which to pick. Not expecting perfect answers, just any opinions would be great. Thanks.
I think you are too young to come to conclusions about what you can/can’t do, and that it is premature to identify your current interests or lack thereof as something fixed. Your brain is still physically developing. And you have not yet encountered many things, some of which you may come to find interest in later.
Also, it’s hard to feel like giving (working) when one is as young as you are and therefore hard to see yourself in a career job.
So I suggest that you relieve yourself of trying to identify your major and career for the time being. You should go into the remaining years of high school and into college exploring not only the areas you know you like, such as history and writing, but also areas new to you. Enjoy the adventures available to you; there will be a job for you when the time for that comes.
For now, pursue your interests both academically and in EC’s. Find one you can really progress in and get “promoted”/recognized/grow in/push to your limits. Then, devote the time needed.
If, as a senior, you still don’t know, apply to college “undecided/Liberal arts”.
Well the short answer is that if you’re a junior in high school, you don’t have to know what your major is yet. Apply undecided and then take some classes in college and see what you like. Then decide.
The long answer:
-If you don’t have a passion for film, don’t major in it. That just seems like the kind of major you should be passionate about and/or want to work in that field.
-History is in play.
-English is not the same thing as creative writing. English at most colleges is a literature degree. You will read works of literature in the Western canon (and some from others, depending on the college) and do literary analysis. Most of your writing will be analytical writing on this topic. You can be a journalist without an English major; editing jobs are very competitive. It’s less “I could do that” and more “I really, really want to do that and I am willing to compete with the hundreds or thousands of other young people who also want to do that.”
-You can help people with virtually any major, including working in social justice/services at an NGOs like the UN. That’s more or less irrelevant to your major. If you are interested in studying social justice, there are a variety of different majors that enable that - sociology is an obvious one. Government is usually not a major.
It appears that history is the best choice for you - you actually really like it, you’re good at it, and history is definitely related to social justice issues. You can do a lot with a history major; I know several gainfully employed history majors. They do a variety of things!
I fell into my eventual major (linguistics) completely by accident, essentially as a result of taking a general-education course in some weird subject I’d never heard of. That’s because the American college system allows for serendipity (which, as defined once by a dictionary writer I know, is finding what you need to find because finding what you thought you wanted to find was so damn hard). So don’t worry about picking a major right now, explore what you enjoy, and then focus on that.
