Suggest a career, please?

Career Opportunities & Internships
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<p>I am an international student who's having difficult time deciding my major, let alone a career.
High school senior rejected by 4, waitlisted by 2 schools in US and have to think of majors and careers ASAP. :( uggh... bad planning...</p>

<p>Anyways, as nobody around me is really helpful with any tips (or has any clue about these kinds of things), I'd REALLY appreciate your advice and help. Thanks tons!</p>

<p>My possible college major interests inclue Physics, Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology or Visual Arts (love photography, graphics, movie making etc)
However, I am afraid my chances of employment after studying pure sciences will just narrow down to teaching or research (research centers employ only a few people each year, so here goes that option, too)</p>

<p>I have finally started to seriously think about my possible careers and I want to have a dynamic creative job that makes me travel a lot around and live on different parts of the world, work in an international atmosphere, and that it engages my mind. I know it's very vague, but this is all I've got so far. I enjoy working with (capable) people, I am fluent in three languages and if I wanted to, I could obtain fluency in two more.
Yet, I have no clue what that kind of job would be!
All the occupation that I could think of that would have what I wanted are: </p>

<p>freelance international correspondent for newspapers
- a job that makes living quite hard if the right connections aren't made.
travel journalist <a href="photography/articles/television">/B</a>
- seems like a wonderful dream job. Yet, it seems as though a person has to have something accomplished before they could host such a show (... or be the creative mind of it???). This way, I'd have a steady job at a certain firm and I'd be paid to job to travel! How does anyone ever land this kind of job?!
**a manager of a bigger firm
- sure, but dealing with business administration and economics seems dry to me :( please convince me I'm wrong.
** successful model<a href="?!">/B</a>
- hahahaha
a stewardess/pilot
- if I had to choose out of two, I'd rather be a pilot. But how do you become one? What does it take?
peace worker in a foreign country
- seems really cool, but most of them are on volunteer bases
a diplomat
- involves having a political affiliation to a certain party and politics in my country is in quite a messy shape so I don't really want to enter that. Though, this business would really make me travel and live on many different places. Knowledge in languages would greatly help, and I think I am good at them. What would I have to study if I wanted to be a diplomat or an ambassador?</p>

<p>Or, if I chose to study visual arts instead, I could be a graphic designer, then go abroad after finishing my studies. However, problem is that there are only 2 such academies that offer it, and they accept around 10 students each year :( Rarely anyone gets in on their first try. </p>

<p>If anyone has any more idea of possible careers please do tell. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>international call girl ;) Seriously what schools did you get waitlisted at? If they are liberal art colleges, then you could push up selecting your major but for now just chill or consider the job I just mentioned.</p>

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<p>Oh and you don't have to be a diplomat through your country. Study politics, IR, government, economics and work for a non-profit organization for some years then distinguish yourself while earning minimum wages, then get invited by your country to be an ambassador because of your numerous achievements.</p>

4

<p>Hmm, interesting, lol.</p>

<p>But if I decide to be a call girl, I'll still need an education so I could be at an higher demand (educated call girls get better paid ;) hey, maybe I really should study economy so I could get highly-paid managers or CEOs! :D)</p>

<p>As for being a diplomat,
this will sound really stupid but, I see, so there's no way out of politics etc. if I wanted to be a diplomat... Dough! (in Homer Simpson way, please)</p>

<p>PS I got waitlisted at Swarthmore.</p>

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<p>As a diplomat, yes you have to be involved in politics, international or local but not that much. You are smart enough to be wait listed at Swarthmore and you want to be a stewardess! </p>

<p>You know, working in different countries isn't that hard but you might have to gain experience working in your country- or maybe the US- before companies, newspapers, agencies- can invest in you outside your country of citizenship. International jobs are rarely entry-level no matter the language skill of the person.</p>

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<p>Hey, stewardess was just one of the options (and I told I'd rather be a pilot :D And thanks, that remark about Swarthmore made me feel bit better about myself) </p>

<p>And you make a good point about gaining experience. And I didn't mean languages would langd me a job immediately, but could help ;) So I have to decide on picking a field of concentration and then getting international. Uggh... if only i knew which :(
What jobs are creative and dynamic even at local or national level that could later lead to international?
Journalism seems fun but I have no guts for being a freelancer in a faraway country.</p>

<p>What would I have to do to eventually become an ambassador?</p>

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<p>BUMP!</p>

<p>Any more suggestions?</p>

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<p>sorry, I did not want to be giving you a onesided view through my opinion. I would say if you want more responses you could move the thread to the International student section maybe they can help you. A lot of international students in my school love travelling and most plan to be diplomats in their country so you would get a lot of response. in btw I am an inter
national student so not stereotyping anyone.</p>

<p>There are a thousand paths to diplomacy. Study anything you feel would be good for you maybe political science, economics or even physics. Be involved in activities that could enlighten you about different countries. Talk to your career advisor r about your future plans. Also your language experience would be valuable for making you reach the top- if it is a relevant language such as French, German, Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish or Russian and of course English- take internships on politics and international law...so many different paths so you make the choice. Also it depends on what school you are going to. If you need help with internships for next year, I could advise you next year but I would advise you again to pick a major you like and then take classes ouside it to learn about international affairs and read the economist or something.</p>

<p>t</p>

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<p>Thanks, Sefago.</p>

<p>I'll try asking around on different subforums then.
I guess I should talk to more people about what my options are if I stayed in my country for college.
The main reason why I'm not so excited about college in my country is that it makes you study only your major (and all the electives are related to the major). I'll have to talk to a school counselor or someone about that then. </p>

<p>I appreciate your input :)
Btw, are you in college? What is your major?</p>

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<p>How about United Nations? They have all sorts of jobs requiring all sorts of skills--including scientific. What just about everyone at the UN has--from top diplomat to lowly tour guide--is several languages. If you went to school in NY, you might be able to intern.</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, I didn't get accepted anywhere in the US :( So internships might be hard. </p>

<p>Actually, I was also thinking of UN, but as I have no clue about it, I felt silly to ask "hey, how can I work in UN?" out of the blue. But now that's been mentioned... ;)
How could I get a job at UN?
Actually, what does it even mean to work in the UN? I feel like they deal with international humanitarian stuff (or do they?) and try to protect human rights, but I am not really aware of what EXACTLY they are doing. Sorry if this sounded ignorant, but does anyone know?</p>

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<p>Yes I am a sophomore and I am a biochemistry major but I am involved in several clubs in my school, model UN and stuff like that. I am interested in international human right law and that is what I might focus on. Also interested in diplomacy and conflict resolution. Ask why I am a biochemistry major it is because I feel it makes you think and so my analytical skills have improved. I would probably go to grad school focusing on my interest later. Also by the time I graduate I would just have two classes to complete and I would have an additional econ major but it would not be possible because I have no time to take them.</p>

<p>Concerning the UN, they typically give most of their internship to graduate students. I am not certain. But I think it is also possible to intern through other arms of the UN.</p>

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<p>The UN has several positions but most of them are rarely entry positions requiring typically at least five years of international work or more depending on the position. Their are thousand jobs one can </p>

<p>Languages would help tremendously, in fact when you mentioned you were fluent in three languages I was envious. I don't want to ask how old you are- it might be rude- but I would say if you didn't get into any school in the US, enroll in college in your country for a year, reapply to different schools wisely.
Apply to a large number of the top 20 liberal art colleges and a couple of schools and hope for the best. If it does not work out forget it and work hard in your college at home excel come to grad school in the US may be a PhD and do well and apply to some international organizations (they like PhD degrees)</p>

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<p>

I like this. This is a good reason for a major in which you won't have a future career. I might do that too...
Now I am curious about your plans.
So you will focus on intl human right law in your grad school? Or international affairs and such? What will you study in grad school? And what kind of job do you hope to do?</p>

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<p>I think I might just do what you suggested.
And when you said you major in sciences, I might also just go for Physics so I could develop analytical skills and work out my brain.
I am a biracial kid so I have two native languages so that was a bit easier to me. However, I have to brush up my on other native lingo. Plus, going to school in Europe, students are mostly required tow take 2 foreign languages in high school (English + other one). As I took a pretty useless language if I didn't want to work in arts or so, I will have to take up a different language (maybe Spanish, I already know some).
Maybe I'll just attend language school while studying Physics. </p>

<p>Thanks, it really helps me to talk about it and (especially) hear about what other people are doing with their college studies :)</p>

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<p>I am taking lots of classes in economics and may take some in political science. I might do a masters in conflict resolution or IR. Problem is that these graduate programs prefer people with backgrounds in the social sciences but I am applying to lots of programs and should get into one. I might get a JD in the US and get an LLM in another country and work for a development or human rights organization.</p>

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<p>Thanks for sharing your story and I wish you the best with your plans! :)</p>

<p>If I decided that I wanted to be a diplomat after all and finished college in my country, I don't know how I'll pull of the additional classes relevant to diplomacy (such as economics and political sciences) because they're given on a completely different college than the one I'll be at if I choose Physics. Self-study looks a bit tough, but I'll probably have to get the will if I really want to be a diplomat. I'll have to go see options for grad schools.</p>

<p>Thanks again, your posts opened up my point of view.</p>