<p>Hi! I just finished my first year at Nortwestern University. I spent my first year as premed, but I decided that premed is not for me. The science classes were putting me to sleep so I thought the career might too. I am now feeling pretty lost as far as where to go from here. I've had a very definite career goal in mind since 7th grade but that has all changed. </p>
<p>So here is my question: How did you all decide what your careers would be? What steps should I take to figure this out?</p>
<p>Seek out a guidance department to find a free aptitude/personality test to direct you toward career choices. Your reasons for work could be considerably different than mine. I don't like cubicals, do like working with people, particularly helping them. I enjoy talking...independence and being creative....I enjoy arguments and building coalitions, when I was single I didn't mind working crazy hours so I worked in the Legislature...later when being around for my own children became a priority I became a teacher...my daughter leaves for college in the fall....I might be too old to be a cowboy but maybe I could drive the chuck wagon.</p>
<p>I'm 55, and I still haven't decided. All I knew/know is that I want to write, and have never gone hungry or without interesting, useful work that paid the rent and then some.</p>
<p>Not sure than anyone really knows. If I remember correctly, it took JC some 32 years to figure out what he wanted to do, and he had a head start from day 1. </p>
<p>I am coming to a cloudy answer in that the type of career depends on the type of person that you are. In very general terms: If you are more adventurous, you will more than likely find your own career. If you are more typical, average person, the career will chose you by default. Keep in mind that a career is sometimes different from what you want to do or what you need to do to make a living. </p>
<p>I'm a guy of mini's age, who has had 3 major careers and still looking. </p>
<p>Congradualations in discovering that pre-med may not be right for you. Think how bad it would be if you went all the way through med school and discovered that medicine is not what you really wanted in life.</p>
<p>My list includes: college teacher in the Middle East and then in Chicago and Philadelphia; coordinator of a peace and justice organization; media relations director for an urban human relations agency; trainer in mediation/arbitration skills and work with police departments to help them better relate to Asian immigrants; founder of a successful publishing house (that is still going strong); vegetarian caterer (that's how I met my wife); editor of more than a 100 books, and author of about a dozen; magazine columnist and journalist; senior health planner for the state board of health; homeschooling and education author and lecturer; work with community development organization in south India (that's my greatest love - <a href="http://www.lafti.net);%5B/url%5D">www.lafti.net);</a> senior policy analyst for the state's alcohol and drug prevention/treatment agency. With the exception of the south India work, did all of them for money. The non-monetarized list is much longer. I will never be wealthy, and never hoped to be, though my income puts me in the top 40% of American families.</p>
<p>When I grow up, I think I want to be a pixie.;)</p>
<p>There is a tremendous randomness in career paths. </p>
<p>I remember standing in front of the mirrors shaving with one of my roomates who asked what we thought we might do when we graduated. I distinctly recall my answer. "No clear idea, but am certain I won't go to business school." Six years later, after a stint in the public sector, I was in business school. </p>
<p>My wife went as well, and at the end of her training period, after we graduated, her employer conducted a "draft" to place the trainees in different sectors of the company. She was put into what was regarded as a dead-end backwater, and strongly considered leaving the employer at that point. At that point, she stuck it out and eventually was recruited from that sector to another top firm where she was very successful because of her prior experience and reputation. Going to business school was a second choice for her. She had applied to several PhD programs, which all rejected her. We have often been grateful for those rejections, because in hindsight, they understood things better than we did. And we're happy. </p>
<p>I think choosing a career is truly tough. You have to decide how much you like material things, and what type of activity you enjoy. Nothing is worse that choosing a modestly paid career and regretting it ......of course, chooosing a high paid one and regretting it isn't a lot better...it may well be worse.</p>
<p>Its also hard to get thoughtful adult advice on this, and the true problem is that you don' t see things the same when you're 35 as you do when you're 19. Good luck. Go get some varied summer jobs and see what you think.</p>
<p>If you truly want to be a doc don't worry about the "science classes were putting me to sleep".....as a whole the practice of medicine is nothing like biology, chemistry, physics, etc.etc...it's more akin to detective work/problem solving...</p>
<p>I had a freshman intro class that I liked and did well in, so I took more classes in the field and continued to like it and do well so eventually I went into that field.</p>
<p>But, are you sure that you want to give up on something that you've wanted for a long time? There is a big difference between freshman science classes and being a doctor.</p>
<p>My advice is to look around but don't completely rule out something that you've wanted for many years on the basis of a few freshman courses.</p>
<p>Frizzbug, like Mini one thing has led to another in my life - and some very fortuitious circumstances can lead you down interesting career paths. A lot of it has to do with who you meet and when you happen to meet them -- and that can be truly random. </p>
<p>However -- that doesn't mean you have to sit around waiting for something to happen. You tend to do all of this people-meeting while you are engaged in something else. </p>
<p>What I did in college when I in the midst of changing career paths and majors was volunteer. I volunteered to tutor local kids in math. Hated it. Cross "teacher" off list of possibilities. I volunteered in local elections. Kind of liked it, but not something I would want to do all the time. Cross "politician" off future list. I volunteered in the local legal aid office. Loved it. Really liked the part about interviewing clients when they came in, and then doing research on their cases, and then helping present their cases at administrative hearings. Liked the way that once I knew what I was doing, I could often resolve their issues with one or two phone calls to the right person. Made me feel really good about myself, plus I really liked some of my clients and was happy when I could help them. Add "law school" to list of possibilities. </p>
<p>The bottom line was that by working in real world contexts, I got a better idea of what I wanted to do with my life. I could have done this with paid work, too - its just that volunteering held open more possibilities. And of course I did also have real jobs, and discovered a few other things I didn't want to do as a career, either. </p>
<p>So - I'd say start with the school volunteer center or employment center listings, look for something interesting, and give it a try for awhile. As Mini's life illustrates, nothing has to be forever.</p>
<p>I did the same, calmom. I volunteered in hospitals (cross doctor off the list), worked on election campaigns, (cross off politician, journalist), sat in on moot court competitions (cross off lawyer). </p>
<p>I loved painting. I was accepted into university level painting courses after junior year in high school, (cross Art School off the list). From there, I looked for the next best thing, Art with Plumbing/Art with Carpenters, aka Architecture. Loved it, still love it. Architecture has been berry berry good to me!</p>
<p>Bottom line: get a job in a hospital or research lab before you give up your life-long dream of medicine. Slogging through those boring classes might well be worth your while!</p>
<p>Don't forget temperament. It's not all intellectual interest and money, you must also determine if your temperament will "fit" with the working conditions.</p>
<p>By all means do volunteer work and internships. If you have the opportunity to attend a conference or two, go and listen closely to the people there outside of the formal presentations. Do you like those people? Is your personality similar to theirs? Given that there is always some variation, it is amazing how people sort themselves into groups, including careers. Consider for example, pediatricians and neurosurgeons. It is primarily temperament and personality that makes the difference.</p>
<p>I found myself in environments that meant something to me. I was in admissions, and while I could tell the job wasn't a good fit for me, I knew the environment (working at a college, being a part of higher education) was. I liked the people, I liked the "cause." That was really key--it gave me some direction.</p>
<p>Then it was just a matter of finding the kind of job that fit what I was good at.</p>
<p>Of course, this all sounds so purposeful in retrospect--there was a lot of luck and falling into teh right position. But overall, I think if you can identify some basic thing or value that would satisfy you ("I want to help people" or "I really want to use my creativity" or "I like to communicate ideas") then you will have some guidance right there.</p>
<p>While an undergrad, I backed into an art history major so I could return to Italy and study in Rome. Had to be an approved program to pass parents' muster. After college, I applied for museum internships but wasn't enough of a snob for the Met and didn't want to live in Toledo. Atlanta was the happening city that drew me to it and I ended up in arts management, managing the ticket ops for large arts center. H's transfer to Massachusetts led me to development, first with child welfare emphasis and now working with college students. Was any of this planned? Did I love every job and every opportunity? You bet. So, enjoy studying where your interests lead you. Don't sweat the "pre-professional" orientation. It will all work out in the end if you are true to your passions.</p>
<p>By a few hour test taken by millions of people in order to quailfy for college. If I was born here I would have probably taken a career other than scince and math. I probably would have taken a differnt path by taking my passion in culinary arts and have gone to CIA (Culinary Institute of America) to be a chef.</p>
<p>Chinaman - did you go to college in China? Of course no obligation to tell but which one? My company is HQd in Shanghai so when I'm over there we debate the merits of the various universities - in a friendly way of course...</p>
<p>I have this secret hope my S will go to school there at some point, I've even got him to take Mandarin with me:)</p>
<p>Well, I was a very practical kid. I figured that there were two practical majors that would always be in demand. I could have been either a mortician or an accountant; and I felt that I didn't have the charisma for a mortician! This left accounting.</p>
<p>I also felt that taxes will always be with us; thus, I majored in taxes.</p>
<p>As for being a writer, I honestly fell into it. There was no planning whatsoever. I started writing for other organizations and got tired of others making money off my writing. Thus, I opened up my own seminar/publishing company and the rest was history..</p>
<p>My only suggestion to you is to find what you are good at and follow your passion. Regardless of what is being offered today, if you are outstanding at something, there will probably be a need for it. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just do something a bit better than what is being done by others. Moreover, if you can give truly good customer service, you will be way ahead of almost any other company. It is almost impossible to get good customer service from any industry. In fact, the concept of, "customer service" is fast becoming an oxymoron.</p>
<p>I will say that for most of my life, I aspired to be like Peter Pan- the perennial kid. As I review some of my written works, I am not sure that I have ever gotten totally away from that concept.</p>
<p>Couldn't make a living with my undergraduate degree (economics - it was easy) and didn't like the more practical major (finance) I shifted to in graduate school. I settled on a major, more or less by accident that related to something that had facinated me since the 7th grade. Didn't even know you could make a living at it. </p>
<p>A consulting firm hired me out of graduate school, which was great, since being a consultant is the perfect job for anyone who doesn't know what they want to be when they grow up. If you don't like what you're doing now, wait a bit and you'll be doing something else. It turns out that the key thing you need to learn to do the job is never stop learning.</p>
<p>I've had to re-invent myself 4 times over the years, but it's been worth it.</p>