<p>Everyone and their mother (literally) tells you to "do what you are passionate about" as a job. I have to say I have a problem with that statement. There are some jobs like certain medical professions, teaching or "fun" jobs like acting or music that I can see where someone can have a passion for it, but let's be honest. There are a lot of accountants, financial analysts, managers, IT specialists, engineers, etc., that I find hard to believe that they are "passionate" about that job. I'm not saying they're miserable. One can certainly do something they have somewhat of an interest in without being "passionate" about it. But the way a lot of people portray it today is that unless you major in and work in a field or area that you love, you will hate your life. </p>
<p>Personally, I love sports, everything about them. I would love nothing more than to be a sports writer or broadcaster, but I also want to be employed. The way I see it, its better to major in something practical in which you have a somewhat of an interest and actually get a job, and make enough of a living to support your family than to major in art because you have a passion for it. I may not love my job, but hopefully it will allow me to spend time with the people who mean the most to me more often, like family and friends, while not having to worry about the electric bill getting payed, rather than loving my job and having to worry about barely paying the bills or not paying them at all.</p>
<p>I just don't think it's fare to make everyone entering college think that if you don't major in something you're passionate in, you will be miserable for life. If you do have a passion for something practical that will get you employment, then more power to you, you're better off than me. But maybe we should all start preaching "find something that will get you a job" rather than "find something you're passionate about" that way you can actually enjoy life outside of work. </p>
<p>I completely agree with u in that it’s hard for everyone to be passionate in employable fields, and that people should separate passion from work if necessary. But what I’m frustrated about in today society is that people cannot separate school from work. Some fields in college really interest people and it may be hard to study them formally later in life. But, being pressured to major in practical fields is completely destroying passions to actually learn.</p>
<p>In short, I think work and academics should be seperated. People should go to college to learn as much as they can, then enter the workforce once the academic stage of their life is over.</p>
<p>I agree with you as well. If everyone were to major and learn something that they were “passionate” about instead of what they’re interested in/practical, then I highly doubt that math and science would be as far as it is today.</p>
<p>@demoz- you make a good point. I know myself I sometimes look at college more as a training session for work, where I should be more enjoying the journey of learning new things. There is definitely a balance that needs to be found. Enjoying learning and looking at subjects that interest you while also realizing you need to leave with a skill/knowledge set that will help you make a living is the way to go/</p>
<p>@comment- lol if only I could. Accountant for the Yankees/Jets would be incredible. Gotta hope for some crazy luck there!</p>
<p>@ijamjl- yea, like I said some people are truly passionate about maths and sciences, but even if you’re not I see no shame in doing it because you are good at it, or feel you can make a good living in such a field.</p>
<p>@domrom I cannot tell you how much I agree. I was coerced into believing that same balderdash and am currently majoring in psychology (before it was music…eeeeekkk). While not a COMPLETELY useless major, I would have loved my counselors to stop me from majoring in something like psychology, because now I am stuck second guessing myself and trying to look at possible uses for my degree. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if we tell everyone to do something practical then we would have a massive influx of people with business or science degrees and not enough jobs. I guess sacrificial lambs will always be needed.</p>
<p>Very good point KnitKnots. The labor supply/demand thing is an important consideration. It’s one of the reasons I’m so attracted to supply chain, because it’s in high demand and I never hear or read anyone talking about it outside of specialized boards like this.</p>
<p>I think the one of the reasons liberal arts and humanities majors exist is to employ the people who have advanced degrees in that area. Those people have a hard enough time finding real work, if students were suddenly advised to major in other subjects it would be an economic disaster for those PHd holders.</p>
<p>I think this may be relevant to this thread, or going off-topic a bit… but, I think that college isn’t used for the right purpose anymore in today’s society. Here’s why:</p>
<p>A lot of jobs don’t really require you to go to school or get any training except for a certain few like engineering or accounting. Most finance jobs and people who work in top finance fields never even touched business until they started working. Same can be said for CEOs and managers, they didn’t “study” management (which I don’t believe you can learn how to manage just by studying anyways) to become a manager. So, what’s the deal with going to college nowadays?</p>
<p>People have to realize that historically, universities and higher education was usually attended by the wealthy and privileged because they have the money to pay for the tuition as well as opportunity cost of missing work and such. They went to gain knowledge in what interested them. Studying a certain field was a luxury, not a mandate. But, only recently in history, and due to the fact that the US is a very rich nation, almost everyone attends college now. This difference means that a lot of people attend college just because it’s what people do. They forget the fact that you go to college for the pleasure of learning a subject. </p>
<p>So, the college-attenders nowadays don’t know why they’re going to college, just that they are. This leads them to question the worth of their degrees and eventually pushes generations to go for these “practical” degrees; but the real question is: how “practical” are they anyways?</p>
<p>What I’m trying to say is that college isn’t a really necessary institution for people who just want to work, except for a few fields such as accounting or engineering. But, it’s just so standard in our society that everyone feels pressured to go to college. My personal opinion is that if you want to work, apply for a job, if you want to learn, go to college. But, unfortunately, I can see how that doesn’t work as smoothly in reality.</p>
<p>I enjoyed every single word of that, and I completely agree. However, your last statement is the key point. In reality, money controls everything. Therefore, the meaning of education is lost and becomes our route in order to make money.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you were an employer, would you honestly want someone who is specialized in your company’s field or would you accept someone who doesn’t have a clue as to what they have to do, spend the time to train them, and then see if they will produce any positive results? Or would you take that person who is trained and knowledgeable in the subject and see if there are positive results without having to go through the effort and time to train the “newbie?” I would obviously take the latter choice, and I think it’s an extremely logical choice. Too bad that the one with a Bachelor’s is now becoming the new lowest standard of education required in order to work (don’t take me literally).</p>
<p>The trick is to find something which you are somewhat passionate about and which is reasonably good in terms of employment and do that. There are many majors which can lead to good jobs for lots of people without tons of luck. For example:</p>
<p>Hard math/science type majors
Engineering(many different flavors of engineering to choose from like electrical, civil, industrial, chemical, etc)
Various business majors(accounting, SCM, MIS, marketing if you are already awesome at building relationships with customers because that’s hard to teach)
Computer Science
Economics at some high ranked schools(hard to get jobs at low ranked ones)
Certain other majors if your school is very highly ranked in that category and recruiters come out to hire people in those majors
Pre-Med ----> Medical School</p>
<p>I’m sure there are a few that I’ve forgotten. The point is that many people might be passionate about something totally useless to the work force like various ethnic studies type majors, but could generate some enthusiasm for something else that’s more useless. There’s probably going to be at least a dozen decent, different choices at any university which will yield reasonable employment prospects provided you do well and put some effort into career networking. Find the one you like most and pursue that, don’t just say “I don’t like Accounting, thus I will do basket weaving”.</p>
<p>All very good points here people. I think we can all generally agree that theres no need to be miserable at your job, but we are also intelligent enough to know we have to make a living. Me for example, I think knowing how businesses perform and the “behind the scenes” stuff is pretty interesting. Being what I believe is called a management accountant, in which one analyzes a businesses finances (budget, performance report, etc.) and makes decisions based off of their accounting knowledge would seem like a very interesting job. Is it my PASSION? Absolutely not. But I won’t be miserable doing it, at least hopefully after the Big 4 life that is lol. There are those that can find a passion in those fields that jonah listed, and if they can, more power to them. But some of us can’t find a passion in something and still find employment in that same field, so I don’t think we should be damned to the 9th circle of hell just because we are not pursuing a jobless field.</p>
<p>Something that I think goes along with majoring in something you love Vs. something that’s practical is actually being good at what you do. If you decide to major in engineering because you think that you’ll get a good job after you graduate but you suck at math, then you might as well not even waste your time majoring in it. The same thing can be said for the people who major in things they’re passionate about. Someone can be passonate about acting but still suck at it. So, what I’m saying is that no matter what someone majors in, they need to actually be good at it.</p>
<p>I always tell myself that time shouldn’t matter too much, even though it really does in a way. From my junior year in high school until now (sophomore in college), I’ve changed my mind multiple times. I started out with Mechanical Engineering, then secondary Math teacher, then Mechanical Engineering again, Civil Engineering, secondary Math teacher again, Computer Science, Comparative Literature, English, Physics, back to secondary Math teacher, and now I’m finally going to give Accounting a try. Although I haven’t taken any serious courses in any of these subjects, the beginning Math and Physics courses are there to weed out those who may not like it/may not do well in the area. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not particular great at Math, and Physics will be difficult as well since Math is the language of Physics (or for that matter, the sciences). I also basically failed Chemistry.</p>
<p>I told myself, “if you don’t like Accounting, stick with it, get a job, and then work for a few years. After accumulating some money, go back to school and do something that you wanted to do before.”</p>
<p>I’m just sick of being in that indecisive state of what to major in, so I’m going to do something that seems practical but also a little bit irrational for me.</p>
<p>@Trippz- That’s another thing I try to let people know. A person could be great at the subjects involved in engineering but love sciences and not be as strong in it. I think its foolish to pass up being better at something that you dont love as much (as long as it doesnt make you miserable) rather than pursuing something you love that you may not be strong in. As Abe Lincoln said, “Whatever you are, be a good one” lol</p>
<p>@ijamjl- I’m having equally hard a time deciding between two completely opposite fields, Accounting and Pre-med related studies. I would enjoy being a doctor, and feeling like my job is actually directly helping people, however accounting offers that instant gratification of being employed right after undergrad. I will likely end up choosing accounting mainly because of financial reasons. My parents can barely support me now (small business owners in what is obviously a bad economy) and only do so because of all my scholarships leading to me actually getting back about $1000 a semester. Therefore I don’t feel that they could support me through medical school which would leave me in 4 years of med school debt PLUS 4 years of living expenses debt. It just doesnt seem viable or practical. Slightly off topic but not really lol</p>
<p>It’s hard to accept but the pool of available jobs in the world does not exist to be matched according to people’s passions. It exists because there is a need for labor. It exists because work needs to be done.</p>
<p>The global need for work to be done is completely separate from people’s needs to pursue their passions. The former does not exist for the sake of the latter. Therefore one shouldn’t necessarily “expect” that a job that revolves around one’s passion is always somewhere out there.</p>
<p>Therefore the wise thing to do would be to find a job which will create the conditions necessary for one to pursue one’s passions. If your job happens to be related to your passions, well even better.</p>
<p>Therefore one should select a career with these things in mind and then try to match one’s passions with one’s career (as much as is feasibly possible).</p>
<p>“Therefore the wise thing to do would be to find a job which will create the conditions necessary for one to pursue one’s passions.”</p>
<p>This is perfect and the exact point im trying to make. I would rather find a job that will allow me to be comfortable enough to do things like vacation with my family, go to dinner with friends, enjoy sports, which is what I really love, and other things. That to me is a sounder plan than hoping to somehow make a career out of a passion where one doesn’t exist or is based purely off luck</p>
<p>People are passionate about different things and sometimes about the wierdest things. I’m interested in polymer engineering, dual phase catalysis and Chinese literature, so I majored in Chemistry which uses all 3. It’s not “I hate accounting. Therefore I’ll major in Philosophy.” If your interests are in hard science, engineering, languages or something else useful, then you’ll be pursuing what you like and making it into a career.</p>
<p>LastThreeYears- If people are passionate about a field, such as accounting, medicine or engineering or something, then MORE POWER TO THEM because they can actually make a great living in it. But my point is, we shouldn’t be pressured by society to try to find a job in what we love even if its a journey that will take you straight to the unemployment line. Great, you got a bachelors in religious studies, and now you’re working as a waitress. How’s your passion now? I’m just saying there is nothing wrong with choosing a career because you feel like you can make a decent living and provide for your family. As someone said earlier, there was a time people worked because it was necessary, not looked to work to do something they love.</p>
<p>I think the term, “making it into a career” or any sort of variation of that, is really a load of crap. Yeah, it’s true that a lot of people do happen to get a great career out of their education, but let’s face it: the average Joe isn’t going to be able to “make” their Comparative Literature degree have a greater impact than one who is pursuing something in the sciences. I’m not saying that that degree is totally useless, but rather that it is more of a hobby/possible passion that will probably lead to a dead end when we’re speaking about professions. Those with only a Bachelor’s probably won’t be able to do much, but if they do, I highly doubt their way of living will compare to those with a practical degree. The only ones who will are those who happened to “make it into a career.” Therefore, the only thing to do then is to further their education. I have no problem with that, but what I have a problem with is that it’s the requirement. I really hate how having a Bachelor’s is soon going to be the new standard education. In a way, it is good, but it’s also ridiculous if we look back at the past.</p>
<p>In short, I say it’s almost entirely luck when it comes down to majoring in your passion.</p>