<p>So I am almost done with my undergrad (4 more classes to graduate in June) as a major in Urban & Regional Planning, but in all reality I dread going to class everyday.</p>
<p>We are taught to improve communities, be sustainable, be just, but most people in my experience working in the field are insensitive, rude, and are in that career for their self-interest. I hate it. </p>
<p>I am not sure if I even want to pursue grad school anymore related to that field. What can I do to feel satisfied helping people? Master's in Social Work? Teaching? </p>
<p>Would it be a waste of a degree if I don't work in City Planning?</p>
<p>Go get a job.</p>
<p>Look for jobs that seem reasonably interesting, even if they’re not your first passion or the thing you want to do for the rest of your life. People rarely stay in their first jobs all the way through the end of their lives, so you won’t be there forever. Apply widely to a variety of things.</p>
<p>While you are working, take note of what you like and what you don’t like. What tasks do you enjoy doing? What problems do you like to work on? What kind of work do yourself doing in 5, 10, 15 years? The answers to these problems become more clear with experience. Contrary to popular belief, I think most undergrads don’t figure out what they want to do in college - not even for the next 5 years necessarily, much less for the rest of their life. They work somewhere and develop their interests and skills. Sometimes they go to grad school and realize what they want to do there, but I think that’s a very costly way to figure out what you want to do - especially if you make a mistake and realize that you don’t want to do whatever your program prepares you for. It’s far better to work a few years first.</p>
<p>So don’t think about graduate degrees just yet; think about agencies and jobs that you can do with a BA. There are plenty of jobs at the bachelor’s level; most people don’t have graduate degrees.</p>