Summer of relaxation...except not

Parents Forum
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<p>Hey parents,
I'm in desperate need of some insight as to how exactly to decide what to do with my life.</p>

<p>I'm a rising sophomore in college. I go to a good university, and I have the motivation and determination to get good grades and to be successful in whatever I choose to do.</p>

<p>The problem is - I don't know what I want to do. I used to want to go to med school because, well, that sounds pretty cool. I've also wanted to go to law school. But then I changed it to business before entering college, and I was all set on consulting or i-banking because, well, you make a lot of money. Now I'm not so sure about business because I don't think it correlates well with my personality (esp. i-banking) and I hate that it's all about networking and connections because frankly I'm horrible at doing that. </p>

<p>As of now I'm wavering desperately between continuing with business or trying to get into a good law school, and I know I have time to decide, but I also don't want to waste too much time deciding because then I'd feel like if I had decided earlier I'd put myself in a better position to be succesful. I don't know which one I'm more interested in, so the only factor I can really consider is how much money I can make. But I want to enjoy what I do to some extent, or least be able to do it for a a long time without hating it. </p>

<p>Does finance sound interesting to me? No. Does studying dense law texts? Not particularly. So I don't even know what else to consider...I also know that what you study in college and your actual job can be very different, so I'm trying to be fair.</p>

<p>So how should I start the process of finally deciding? I want to decide because I need to have a goal for myself or else it drives me crazy. </p>

<p>If you can help me in any way I'd greatly appreciate it :)</p>

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<p>Good for you for starting to think about this now...you have plenty of time to try out different career choices to see what you are interested in and what you are good at.
I thought I was going to be an investment banker like several of my cousins until I did a three-month internship and realized that it was not at all interesting to me.
What are you doing this summer?</p>

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<p>What is fun for you?</p>

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<p>First of all- calm down. You sound as if you have been taking your education very seriously and that is VERY good. </p>

<p>It also seems that you have ruled out pre-med. This also is good. As we rule out what we don't want, we get closer to what we do want. </p>

<p>You have another year in which to decide the major you will declare which may impact what you do post-college. At this point, it sounds as if law school or graduate school in a particular area are still very much open to you. That, too, is very good.</p>

<p>What courses have you enjoyed the most? What area is this in? Think hard about this as it will indicate where you are most drawn.</p>

<p>Have you determined what courses you are taking next year? This, too, should give you an indication of where you are drawn. </p>

<p>At this point, one year out of declaring a "do or die" major, you still have time to identify your desires. Treat this carefully and don't let anyone else's expectations determine your path.</p>

<p>The seriousness with which you have undertaken your studies so far augers well for your ability to determine what you most enjoy and at which you excel. </p>

<p>Calm down. Then, think. The future will become more clear as you do.</p>

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<p>KK - I was in my early thirties before I found my career destiny. I think you're doing OK. Your studies are going well and you're learning about your personality and what sorts of things are poor matches for you. In short, you're W-A-Y ahead of most people your age. I suggest getting out and trying a bunch of new stuff. Who knows, spending a little time at a law firm might convince you that those dusty old legal tomes are the only a tiny part of how lawyers spend each day.</p>

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<p>siliconvalleymom, this summer I am interning at a nonprofit think tank organization..it's interesting and I love the people there but it's not really relevant to possible career choices. </p>

<p>ADad, I'm not sure if that was a rhetorical question (or what kind of fun you were asking about), but the problem I have is that I enjoy things that I'm good at and that I can learn well and be successful in. In terms of academics, I really like subjects that I can get good grades while still feel like I'm being challenged. It presents a problem sometimes because I don't really know what subjects I genuinely enjoy - it depends on how challenging the class is and how well I can do. </p>

<p>So in conclusion it's hard for me to know which areas of study I enjoy...I always have to take into account how much I'm actually going to enjoy it when I go to really difficult higher level classes. </p>

<p>pipmom, thanks, I do need to calm down :) I'm not too concerned with my major because for law school it doesn't matter and for business, well, I will probably choose economics anyway which is as close as I can get for business.</p>

<p>NewHope33, thanks for the advice :) At my college I always feel like everyone else knows what they want to do, and that's either premed, law, or business, so I figured it was time for me to decide too.</p>

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<p>kkasey, thanks for your response. :)</p>

<p>It is not a rhetorical question.</p>

<p>I actually want to know what you think is fun.</p>

<p>I am interested in both academics and nonacademics.</p>

<p>Within academics, I'm thinking from what you said that you like to perform well while being challenged. You want both of those things. If this is right, what subject areas have met your criteria? What are the really difficult higher level classes that you enjoy?</p>

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<p>Why do you think working for a think tank is not a viable career choice? Or that working for a non-profit is not a viable career choice?</p>

<p>Also, what do you find enjoyable about the internship you have? What aspects of the work do you enjoy? What careers would have those aspects?</p>

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<p>For example,
Do you prefer to go to a quiet place and read a lot of material and critically anylyze it or brianstorm with a group of people?</p>

<p>Do you like to make sense out of data?</p>

<p>Do you like interacting with a variety of people (sick people, for example) or do you like connecting with a few people with similar motivations and intellect as yourself?</p>

<p>Do you like to write?</p>

<p>Do you like to sell things, talk to groups of people? </p>

<p>There are a million questions like this you could ask yourself that will help you figure out a job. And sometimes the training for the job isn't much like the actual job. The first two years of medical school aren't like what being a doctor is like, for example. </p>

<p>Best wishes. Your introspection will serve you well.</p>

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<p>kkasey, have you had any accounting courses yet for your business major? Accounting is an excellent field with lots of good job offers for graduates with good grades. You could earn a master's in accounting and then test for the CPA.</p>

<p>My S's g/f is an accounting major and is doing an internship with an oil company in international auditing. This job involves 3 weeks in country preparing for the audit, then 3 weeks overseas with a team of co-workers conducting the audit. Then they come back to the states and get started preparing for the next one.</p>

<p>G/f is in Azerbaijan right now and she loves it. She says the auditors for her company also travel to Ireland, England, Australia, Dubai, and somewhere in South America that I can't remember. She said it's not just sitting at a desk punching a calculator like people think it is.</p>

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<p>First you can decide if you are a math/science type or a social science/humanities type, or business... If math/science you would need to get prerequisite courses early on. If other fields you can use next year to take varied courses that also meet your school's breadth requirements. You should be able to take tests through your school's career planning center to help you figure out your god fit options.</p>

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<p>boysx3, I may consider working for nonprofits/think tanks somewhere down the road, but I'm going to an expensive college and am thinking about how to pay back loans. But ignoring that part, what I'm doing isn't really intellectually stimulating or challenging. You have to be friendly and be able to work together and be professional, but it's mostly planning events, researching current events and writing reports, and you learn facts but it seems like something anyone can do. (Maybe my perception of a think tank/nonprofit is way off but that's what I get from mine.)</p>

<p>timely, my school doesn't have a business major (such as accounting), it only has liberal arts and engineering majors. </p>

<p>ADad, lol, what I think is fun...hanging out with friends, having interesting conversations with people I know well, sports, reading, writing, etc. I haven't taken "higher level courses" in college yet since I've only done 2 semesters. But generally, I think math is too dry although it is challenging and when I understand something difficult it's a good feeling. Humanities (for example, English and philosophy) are interesting but can get too abstract. So I don't know, it's hard for me to know what I like. </p>

<p>Thanks for all the responses, I'm really starting to think a lot. I'm definitely leaning more towards law than business, because like I said I don't think my personality fits with business. In terms of law I do like to argue when I have strong opinions about something, I like it just for the sake of arguing. I like that law is very structured and there are many rules; I don't think I work well when I'm supposed to be "creative" and spontaneous. I don't enjoy reading boring, dense texts (but the thing is, why would you? so it's hard to judge by that). But as long as that's not all I'm doing, I'll do it if I have to. I want to help people and succeed because I'm good at what I do, not because of who I know.</p>

<p>So I have good reasons to want to do law. But I don't know how to make the jump to "I'm considering law school" to "I want to be a lawyer, period." I've heard/read about how common job dissatisfaction is and the long, grueling hours. </p>

<p>I'm reaching my own conclusion that I'll probably never be certain something is right for me until I do it? I suppose that is one of life's quirks :)</p>

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<p>Well, bear in mind that "business" is about a broad a category as you can possibly imagine. I get the impression that you are imagining the entire business world as a row of generic cubicles! Publishing, toymaking, advertising, retail, travel, software, hotels, fashion, professional sports, film, manufacturing, medicine, beauty, dining--all those things are businesses/industries, and they're enormously different from one another.</p>

<p>Even in the nonprofit sector, everything has a business side to it. Art museums, colleges, charities, foundations, lobbyist groups, public radio and television, political parties: all have staff whose job is the "business" of the organization. </p>

<p>And networking? At the heart of it, networking is just working in a field long enough to know a bunch of people...keeping in touch as their careers and yours move along...being remembered as a good person to work with...and not burning bridges. It's not some secret society that you can't possibly enter.</p>

<p>I think you're looking at possible careers in chunks that are so big that they all sound generic. Law. Medicine. Business. Those are monolithic categories, so broad they are almost meaningless. I think you're having trouble deciding because its all so vague and shapeless. </p>

<p>ADad was quite right to ask what's fun for you. What do you really enjoy doing, what do you find interesting? What did you spend hours doing for fun as a kid? Those are clues that might lead you in a specific direction you'd find compelling and satisfying.</p>

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<p>kkasey, have you ever job shadowed or otherwise spent a day with someone in one of the professions you're interested in? This summer might be a good time to set up some things up. This will require you to network among your friends, and more likely your parent's friend to see who might let you go to work with them. </p>

<p>Many of us worked as professionals in areas that were very exciting to us, however, some of the undergrad courses we had to take to qualify for those jobs weren't "fun" or even something that came easily to us. No one loves every class in their major. You are right to try and figure out your strengths and likes, but maybe watching someone else do the job you're thinking about would help you find a match.</p>

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<p>kkasey, expensive colleges have career centers, designed for students just like you! Have you spoken to them? Have you taken any aptitude/interest tests? Any personality tests? At the beginning of the semester, make an appointment for som serious career counseling. That's what they're paid to do, that's what they're there for, and generally, they're pretty good at it!</p>

<p>As far as law is concerned - legal texts are generally not these "dense, boring" texts, but are often casebooks - you read the cases and discuss to develop basic principles. Contracts, on the other hand . . . </p>

<p>Please don't kid yourself that networking and client relationships are not important in the practice of law. Where do you think your clients come from? Law is a business, and it needs clients to survive. </p>

<p>And it can be (and often must be) extremely creative. That's how you make new law. That's how you find the "loopholes" to allow your clients to do what at first blush may seem impossible.</p>

<p>Good luck to you!</p>

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<p>How about Political Science/Journalism/Communications?</p>