So I am one semester into my college career, and well, things are great and not so great. I went into college sure I was going to work in medicine, but turns out, I suck at chemistry! I got additional help, and it was still so bad that I ended up having to drop the class. Now, I have no clue what to do. I don’t really have any one passion (subject wise) anymore, but I love working with and helping people. I am not a work behind the desk kind of person, but I also need to make money. I come from a semi- low income household, so while I don’t need a ton of money, I would like enough to live better than my family and afford to at least occasionally do the things I love that aren’t job related (which have a tendency to involve travel). Anyways, I’m taking some classes that seemed interesting next semester, like criminology and a political class, but the majors associated with these classes don’t exactly lead to good jobs necessarily, and while I find them interesting, I’m not super passionate, and therefore don’t know if pursuing them would even be worth it. I also considered teaching, because it goes with my love of working with people, but I’m also not in love with the idea of teaching, and they are unfortunately very underpaid. Briefly considered law school, but I hear the job market is awful for lawyers.
I just recently came across the informatics major, which seems to have more job opportunities than the standard liberal arts degree. I’m not crazy about computers, or crazy about the type of work environment those types of jobs tend to have, but it seemed somewhat interesting. So I was just wondering, when it seems like there are no passions associated with a job, is it better to just go for what is going to give me a semi-comfortable life, even if I don’t particularly “love” the work I do? (Other majors/jobs to consider also welcome)
I don’t know anything about medical careers, but is that really enough to keep you out of healthcare? There are a lot of options beyond just being a doctor.
Many health careers are lucrative and there are so many more things you can do than become a physician. How about if you go to your school’s health advisory board and ask them about your options. (Each college has a group that can advise about the health professions. Sometimes it’s called a premed advisory counsel, sometimes a prehealth career group, that sort of thing. Somewhere on your campus there will be a group who works with people interested in the health professions.) They can tell you about the many many other options for someone interested in health.
Off the top of my head, and not being an expert, options include–
Research in an academic setting (helping in an established lab) or in a private corporation (which can be quite lucrative);
Nursing (a wide-ranging field that involves everything from direct patient care, or computer technologies, or administration, etc. and can be lucrative)
Or major in a technical field that you enjoy, like engineering, or tech, and then go to law school. If you do choose law, then make sure that you get As and aim for an LSAT above 172 (practice practice practice some more), and that should get you into a Top 14 law school. You need a top 14 law school to achieve the sort of jobs that pay well enough to offset your law school debt.
Your health career advisory group should be able to introduce you to a variety of career choices.
I would focus on finding some courses you are interested in and can do well in. Do some internships over the summer or get a job on campus. From those jobs and courses, you will find out what you are good at and what you don’t like about certain jobs.
My niece was an anthropology major. She wanted to do marketing, but was hired by a large consulting firm to do business strategy. They hired her, not for her number crunching ability, but for her insight on how people behave.
It is hard to pick a career just for its high paying potential. If you have no interest or even dislike it then you would never excel at it. To get paid well in any profession, you do need to be very good at what you do.
Most people’s profession evolves over time. I know many doctors who move into hospital management or other admin jobs. I also know lawyers who have moved into business. I have moved from finance to high tech.