How do you know your major will land you the job you want?

<p>An observation I made since Ive been back at school is that a lot of kids go straight from high school to college, and end up majoring in a field they have no idea if they will like or not. I know a few people that majored in engineering and accounting, when they finished school ,they hated their jobs and decided to go back to school and start over. </p>

<p>A former business major told me that she took an accounting class, and decided she wanted to change her major Bio Engineering. I dont know how you could come to that conclusion by taking one class, but many times what you do in class has nothing to do with what you do on the job. My freind who is trying to get into med school has talked to doctors and they've told him that they hardly ever use chemistry, though its one of those subjects you have to take many classes in. I understand why, but if he decided he didnt want to be a doctor because he hated chemistry, I think he would be making a foolish decision. Do you get what Im saying? </p>

<p>Ive read about high school kids wanting to get into i banking, how do you know thats what you want to do? Working 80 hour weeks, having no social life? Is that really what you aspire to do? That might be an exaggeration, but Im trying to make a point. </p>

<p>If you've interned, worked for, or even spent a day in the life with someone who does what you want to do for a living, then I could see how you would know what you want to do. Otherwise, it seems foolish to me.</p>

<p>I get very frustrated with the system, people think the only way to a great life is to go to college and get a good job and you'll be happy. From what Ive seen, this just inst the case.</p>

<p>I decided to go back to school when I was 25. I had worked a few jobs I hated, and I had a few jobs I liked. This gave me a better idea of what I wanted to do. Once I found something I loved and was pretty good at, I decided to go back to school so that more doors would open up for me after I graduate. </p>

<p>If you know what you want to do, are hell bent on doing it, and you are a junior in high school, I applaud you. I just dont think it works out this way a majority of the time. I know everyone's situation is different, and Im not trying to generalize or put everyone in the same group. I just find it funny that so many people who went through the system they were told would make them happy, find out years later that it really didnt work out they way they were told or hoped it would.</p>

<p>I have a career in a niche field I didn’t know existed when I was in college.</p>

<p>I old college chums who ended up in fields so unrelated to their major that they had to go back & take undergrad pre-req classes before going into their fields. </p>

<p>I also think many of those HS juniors who “Know” what they want will change their minds.
But I don’t think the straight from HS to college path is bad. I think the career path must proceed as you described – test out various jobs and gain that experience before you can focus. Back in the day when a grad went to work for a large company who would take care of them for life it was different. Today most folks will have multiple employers throughout their life and it isn’t unusual that they change career paths because of it.</p>