<p>This is not meant to be a troll thread or anything --- this has been something that I've been struggling with for the past year now, and was wondering if anyone has any input on this.</p>
<p>I am currently a sophomore attending a top 15 university, potentially (most likely...) majoring in a liberal arts major that our school associates as the "finance, IB, consulting post-grad" major. (If you look at our school's career site, at least 85% of grads in this major end up in Finance, IB, or consulting post-grad.) However, I initially chose this major because I was interested in the material and found it intellectually stimulating and challenging, not necessarily because I was interested in Finance, IB, or Consulting. This is what I'm struggling with at the moment. </p>
<p>I'm currently trying to find internships for the summer, and I'm finding myself under-motivated because I have no clear career goal (at least for this summer). I understand that I probably won't know if I'll like a career option unless I try it out, but the fact that most of my major ends up in IB/Consulting (and equivalently 'high stress, poor work-life balance' jobs) is something that I can't seem to get out of my head, even though I know I should take matters into my own hands and find something that is interesting to ME, and not to everyone else.</p>
<p>I guess the moral of the story (or rather TLDR;) is that I'm confused with what the future holds for me, and I'm the type of person that absolutely hates uncertainty when I can have stability.</p>
<p>Has anyone gone through a similar experience, and could give some advice to this confused and extremely stressed out sophomore?</p>
<p>I think a lot of people have this kind of uncertainty. In fact, I have no idea what the heck I want to do with my life. Some people find their way early on and they’re lucky. Sometimes you just need to keep trying things until you find what works for you. I can definitely say I picked a major I enjoy and is challenging (math) that will serve me well in terms of getting jobs, but I don’t know what kind of career I want for sure. If I knew as a freshman or sophomore I’d have done so much more to achieve it. Graduation is staring me in the face and I have some idea of what I want to do, but I’m not completely sure if I’ll like it. You need to take risks and have some plan, but you shouldn’t expect to have everything completely figured out by the time you graduate.</p>
<p>Thank you for the response. What you’re saying makes sense, but what doesn’t really work out in my head is making a plan for something I’m unsure of. I can’t seem to answer the question, “What are my career goals? What is my dream job?”, and because of that, I’m lacking an objective to work towards. Middle school led to high school, and high school led to college, but what comes afterwards is a big question mark for me. How do you suppose I take risks and create a plan? Anything would be helpful. :)</p>
<p>You don’t need a clear career goal to do an internship. Because you don’t have one you should be even more motivated to get some hands on experience that will help you refine your preferences, find the things you want to move toward and those you want to move away from.</p>
<p>Have you worked with any of the counselors/advisors on your campus? Being an undecided sophomore is very common, as is switching majors, believe it or not. However, have you taken any types of interest inventories/done any research on types of careers you might be ‘good at’ and interests you have with like-minded people so that your co-workers/you would enjoy working together? There are many websites that can show you a multitude of positions/paths for people seeking work in areas that interest you, and those sites can show you salaries, educational requirements, etcetera. It’s hard work figuring out what to do with the rest of one’s life, especially when young, isn’t it? Know that you aren’t alone, but try to connect with people at your campus who can help you talk about what you have enjoyed so far, what you can cross off the list, and where to focus in the future. It will help calm some of the angst. My own daughter is struggling with finding a summer internship, too… so again, don’t feel alone. Good luck!</p>
<p>OP, I felt the same why when I was a CS major. I realized that I just couldn’t sit in front of a computer screen everyday and code all day long. It just wasn’t in me. Also, I only did that major because my parents said I was good at it. I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to do but my parents advised me to NOT be undeclared (which I wish I would’ve just to be on the safe side), I also didn’t go very good in my previous major (classes were in the hard side for me), but I changed it around and changed my major to Criminal Justice in the past semester and I’ve been doing pretty well ever since. </p>
<p>Explore your options and take different classes to see what you might like.</p>