<p>Most of my friends, and I'm jealous, know exactly what they want to do. And so choosing colleges, for them, is easy. One's going for schools with good pre-med programs, the other good schools with good a archaeology department.</p>
<p>What if you have absolutely no idea what you want to do for a career?</p>
<p>I can make a list of jobs I don't want to do. Doctor/lawyer/journalist/teacher...
But besides that, I'm clueless.</p>
<p>The more I think about my college list, the more I feel I need to make up my mind soon. Because some of the majors I've thought of (ie computer science, architecture, all briefly) aren't typically available at the kind of schools I'm looking at (mostly LACs and small universities).
And then the subjects that interest me most (history, earth sciences) are hard to make careers out of.
{actually, the subject I find most interesting is politics. But I am terrified of public speaking. ...hows that for irony}</p>
<p>We did a "career interest" thing in guidance and "investigative" careers fit me best (mostly science related). Specifically, it said medical careers would be best for me.
Unfortunately being a doctor is the last thing I'd want to be :(</p>
<p>No, your friends only believe that they know what they want to do. The typical college student changes majors two to three times. Good for you - going to college with an open mind and lots of possibilities is the best way to be. After all, discovering new things is one of the main reasons for the college experience. BTW, if the subjects that interest you are difficult to make careers out of, what else is new? Very few undergraduate degrees lead directly to careers. And those that do can often lead to a dead end since you have technical knowledge that will soon be obsolete, but not the timeless breadth of communication and critical thinking skills.</p>
<p>Understand what the interest inventories actually measure and tell you. They don't indicate what fields are best for you; they indicate those fields in which professionals describe interests that are nearest to the way that you describe yours. So, maybe you'll be a political scientist with interests that are atypical for that field. Not a problem.</p>
<p>Go to college, browse a lot of subjects, find something that you're excited about and throw yourself into it. And if your career interests are ultimately in something else, don't worry. You'll probably want a graduate or professional degree someday anyhow.</p>