<p>I will be graduating high school soon, and I really want to narrow down my choices on what I intend to study in college. My only problem...I don't really know anything I want to actually study. I know I may have until sophomore year to decide, but I want to at least get a general idea of what I want to do so I don't waste my parent's money. Like stated earlier, I don't have any interests or passions for much. In school, there was never a class that made me want to continue studying it past that year. </p>
<p>I've considered other options, such as taking a gap year or going to community college, but those are just not the right choices for me.</p>
<p>I am by no means asking for a miracle to fall in my lap, but I would surely appreciate it if someone could give me some ideas on how I can find a major, preferably before the new school year starts!</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior as well, so I’m not very experienced with this. BUT, I will ask, what do you do in your spare time? What is fun for you? When I decided I didn’t really like physics, I realised that I’ve spent the past 4 years collecting and studying books, so that helped me decide that I want to be a librarian or work in restoration/curation/preservation of books and other documents. What you end up doing doesn’t have to stem from an academic course :)</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who is graduating from college in about two months, I definitely advise you NOT to consider what you like doing in your spare time.</p>
<p>Just because I like mountain climbing doesn’t mean that’s going to be what pays the bills…</p>
<p>Anyways, I had an idea before I went into college what I wanted to study, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it. Actually, it wasn’t only until recently I found out that I am pretty much not going to do anything with it. However, I’ve enjoyed my Applied Math/Statistics degree and fortunately that is letting me into master’s programs in mechanical and aerospace engineering to study something I found through one of my classes to be extremely interesting - fluid dynamics. </p>
<p>So, my advice: take some classes! See what you like. I originally wanted to be a physics major. I changed after my first semester in community college to math and am now a graduating senior. I still like physics, but I find most of it to be utterly useless to my interests. I knew going into my Partial Differential Equations class that it would be a difficult class, but I learned a lot of interesting things and discovered something I really liked. </p>
<p>I think in the past two years I had entertained the idea of becoming an actuary, investment banker, mathematical physicist, trader, lawyer, biostatistician, etc…the list goes on. However, it takes a while sometimes to find out what you want to do. High school is kind of a terrible place to find interests you like. I’d start reading books. That’s how I even decided to come to college.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I wasn’t going to say, “Choose a random hobby and make it into your career!” But OP says that they have no intetests, which I don’t fully believe. I was trying to get a sense of at least a slight interest they had, even if it wasn’t an academic one.</p>
<p>One factor that you should consider is whether you are an introvert or an extrovert. Different careers require different levels of social interaction, and if your personality doesn’t fit the reqirements of a particular profession, it will be more difficult to be successful. Can you do some aptitude testing? </p>
<p>Eta: if traditional subjects don’t interest you, maybe you should look at technical/hands-on type careers. I used to teach at a two year technical college for students interested in things like aviation maintenance, culinary studies, graphic design, etc. There are many possibilities out there.</p>
<p>Take different GE requirements in your first year, so that you’re both fulfilling requirements and potentially finding something that interests you. Also, see if you can take any freshman seminars that are career oriented (like talking about different jobs in biology or chemistry, etc). Or you could try to take broad survey courses to give you a taste of the breadth of different fields. Go to career fairs to see what jobs are out there, and look at job postings to see what are potential careers. Take those career/major surveys, not to find what career/major you should do but to take a look at the different options that are available and see if any strike your fancy. Try to get involved with organizations/internships/programs that give you exposure to different things. For example, perhaps you can volunteer as a tutor or in a hospital or with a org at school to see if you like working with people or something similar. Maybe you can get get a part-time job as a receptionist or something similar to see if an office job is for you. Perhaps, you can shadow people or do informational interviews with people who have interesting jobs to see if it’s something you’d be interested in. A lot of times classes and schoolwork have little to do with actual careers. Finding a job you’re interested in doing may help you narrow down what degree you need to get.</p>
<p>You could also try to narrow it down into broad subjects. Would you like something in a STEM field or in the humanities? Would you like something in the hard sciences or social sciences? Would you be okay with a field that uses a lot of math? Would you be okay with a field that uses a lot of writing or public speaking? Are there any subjects or career paths that you are not interested in? Would you be okay being in a field where you’d likely have to get a graduate or professional degree? Do you even need to get an undergraduate degree for what you’d like to do?</p>
<p>Don’t worry about “passion” or anything like that. Just look for jobs that are good fits for you and that you find interesting/wouldn’t mind doing/would be willing to do for a while. Then figure out what degree you would need to get. Or you could look for different characteristics that you’re looking for in a job–working with people, working with your hands, working with a computer, office vs. non-office, etc. It’s hard to really know what’s out there in high school because you often don’t get a lot of exposure to the breadth or depth of many different subjects, and you don’t often get the connection between those subjects and a job. The only real way to know is to educate yourself about what’s out there, and then try something on to see if it fits.</p>
<p>@Sculpting, I am a very introverted person. I feel more comfortable when I am alone, but I’ll bear with something if it means having a good job.</p>
<p>@Baktrax, I don’t know if I could do STEM as I am not too math oriented (due to not taking it it full time in high school), and I am more of the artsy type, but the problem with that, is that I don’t care enough about art to spend years of my life learning about it. If it is not a hassle, I am not sure exactly what degrees are included in ‘humanities’, so could you please give example? Thanks!. Public speaking is a definite no, unless it is with a small group of people, then I could deal. I would prefer NOT to go to gradate school.</p>
<p>Also, I am not quite sure what I want for a future job. I thought I wanted to go to medical school, but I lost interest of it when I realized that it just isn’t what I want to do long term after I job shadowed in a lab. </p>
<p>In terms of things I am OK at, I would say it is being creative. I guess I am able to come up with ideas for things if it is needed, such as designing something for a project. But like I said, art isn’t exactly fun to me. I spend a lot of time on my computer, so I know my way around one pretty well. </p>
<p>Thanks to those who have answered so far! :)</p>
<p>Most colleges will have some programming or advising for students who are “undecided major.” So, tap that. Also, most freshmen take their English Composition I & II and other gen eds. You might want to add some technical or physical course (dance, art, computer animation, etc.) as well as either a management or marketing intro type course. Or, throw in a public speaking course (if a requirement), an additional language (formerly known as “foreign language”), a basic science lab, or philosophy course. Repeat until you develop an interest — but make sure you keep actively searching (job shadow, shop for majors/minors, etc.). </p>
<p>I wouldn’t advise taking a break, because that temporary break may become permanent. I would, however recommend going to a community college. It’s cheaper and you take the same classes. I’m doing it now and I have no regrets.</p>
<p>As for your question, what do you like to do in your spare time? Look at the universities’ websites, at their majors and the classes that you would be taking under those majors. See if any of them interest you. </p>
<p>You can always see an adviser at a college too.</p>
hi, this is two years later and I’m high school student with the same struggles you wrote about it would mean the world to me if you let me know what you decided to major in ! thank you so much
@wanttogetin45 hi, this is two years later and I’m high school student with the same struggles you wrote about it would mean the world to me if you let me know what you decided to major in ! thank you so much
it would mean the world to me if you let me know what you decided to major in ! thank you so much