So I’m currently a junior in high school, and I know I don’t have to be set on what I wish to pursue yet, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I’m really starting to think I would like to pursue a film degree and be in that industry, but my parents think I should do something more practical like marketing. I know I need some creative drive in whatever I pursue or else I just won’t be able to do it.
I know this isn’t something that you can tell somebody to go either way, but does anyone have some advice or personal experience they could share? If you do, thanks!
I used to think I wanted to pursue marketing too just because it’s supposed to be “more practical” and possibly satisfy my creative cravings. Now I am choosing to pursue my true passion, which is literature and writing, and I feel much more like I belong on this path of life.
I came to this conclusion in several steps:
-
I joined a business club (FBLA) at school and did something similar to marketing, and frankly found no signs of creative freedom in the experience. Granted, it was a social media campaign, which is probably much less artistic than, say, advertising/media, which was the major I started considering next. However, I had no tangible experience in advertising, and it didn’t seem to allow for a lot of writing, which is something important to me.
-
As for the “practical” side of business/marketing related paths, when I truly examined the business field, most of it is dominated by “leaders”, and most of these leaders are determined on very arbitrary terms. So did I really want to be in a field where I would constantly be overshadowed on vague grounds and have my ideas dismissed? The only signs of creativity I found in business was in marketing, but surprisingly, very few business schools had a real marketing department, and the ones that did had quite low return on investments for marketing grads. Which means that even people who graduate with this seemingly profitable degree are not successful in finding careers.
-
I stopped seeing college as a purely preprofessional institution. I think college is a place to learn and grow (sorry cliche), and you can’t really predict what kind of career you end up in just because of your major. Writing is what stimulates deep thinking and passion within me, so I am deciding to pursue it because I want to just expand myself intellectually and see where it takes me. Maybe I will pick up other interests along the way and eventually find my own niche.
If film is what stimulates deep thinking and passion within you, then I think you should seriously consider it and not discard its value. Unless you’ve had really positive experiences in marketing, I don’t think you should try to fit yourself in a box just for the illusion of financial stability.
Then again, the film industry is also unfortunately ripe with corruption, and you might want to keep in mind that your ideas for a storyline or design or whatever you want to do might have to appeal to a lot of arbitrary people in charge before making its way to the audience, an aspect not unlike the business world. There are many different routes to consider, and I hope you find something that will give you meaning in life.
Nobody can tell you what to pursue, but your situation seems similar to what I had been (and am still sometimes) struggling with, and I just wanted you to hear my side if it helps at all with your process because that is the most I can offer. 