What is my passion in life?!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>I know that this may seem like a very ambiguous or troll-ish topic to discuss about, but I am really desperate to find my true passion in life and choose the correct career path, etc. I am already a junior and will apply to college in the fall. I want to be able to find my passion and convey it to these colleges. </p>

<p>I am an Asian girl with a pretty logical mind that sometimes blinds me from my passion. A lot of times I think about things like "stable job" or "average income" before "what I want" and "like". At the same time, I am a person who is not exactly a popular person or someone who is able to talk nonchalantly with anyone, so I may not be the best fit for career paths such as Business or Politics. </p>

<p>Here is a list I made of everything I though of doing(it's very cheesy so just bear with me, lol):
I want to write a book on correct way to educate children when I am old
I want to create my own VRMMORPG game(for people who doesn't know, VRMMORPG is virtual reality games; basically that implies that I want to create my dream world)
I want to donate lots of money
And stop all human trafficking
and shorten the economic gap between rich and poor(mostly through education)
I want to cure cancer
I want world peace
I want desegregation
I want no prejudice
I want a busy and challenging but not tiring life
I want to be able to be fairly rich so I can go to the fancy restaurants I've never been able to go to and travel around </p>

<p>My EC's in school:
• American University Preparatory Online Group for Chinese – Founder/President (10-12)
- Science National Honor Society Chapter - Founder/President(11-12)
• Math Club/Mu Alpha Theta – Vice President
• Engineering Club - Treasury
• Symphony Orchestra –Section Leader
• The Faiien Scans Group– Founder/Manga Translator (11-12)
• National Honor Society
• UIL Number Sense , Math, Literature Criticisms
• HOSA
• All-Region Orchestra
• Key Club</p>

<p>The volunteering I enjoyed the most:
- Shelving books, organizing data on excel, and helping readers at public library
- Tutoring little kids with reading and math</p>

<p>So what do you guys think is my passion in life? What should I do when I get older? What is the most fitting career path for me?
I am a fairly shy/awkward person but if in order to pursue that passion I need to change myself, then I probably will try hard to do that. </p>

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<p>

I’ve always felt like passion is something you find after you work really hard at something. We tend to enjoy things we’re good at (not necessarily in an absolute sense—if you’re bad at everything you’ll tend to enjoy whatever you suck least at), so we spend a lot of time on them. The more time you spend on something the better you get at it, and the better you get at something the more you like it. This forms a positive feedback loop and we call it passion. I don’t think you should worry about finding your life passion, because if you haven’t “found” it then it doesn’t even exist yet. When people talk about missing out on their passions they usually mean that they went into a field they disliked purely for the sake of status, not that they accidentally chose the wrong thing even though they enjoyed it at the time. </p>

<p>

This is completely off-topic, but I’ve always hated the dichotomy people create between logic and emotion, as if they’re at odds with each other. Doing things you enjoy is eminently logical if you want to have a happy life. It would be illogical to do anything else. </p>

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<p><a href=“Explore Careers – BigFuture | College Board”>Explore Careers – BigFuture | College Board; -This will help you.</p>

<p>Enjoy.</p>

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<p>@FairyFantasy</p>

<p>I am with halcy that you need to do things to find your passion. It will not be discovered through armchair thinking.</p>

<p>First advice when searching though, throw out any ideas of "How will this relate to a career?’ in the thought process. That is a secondary step IMO that you take once you find a passion. </p>

<p>From your list, it seems that you have a lot of passions really, and you aren’t struggling to find passion but rather to pick a singular one as a career. You seem to have it all on your resume, but no specific emphasis.</p>

<p>Before saying any more, let me ask a question: how do you spend your free time? This does not include anything school related, but simple you time. There may be something there. I think you framed this too much in the college/academic sense when passion itself shouldn’t be boxed in like that. Life isn’t a game where you check off achievements.</p>

<p>@halcyonheather</p>

<p>On logic/reason and emotion, I think they get contrasted a lot because often emotion overpowers logic, or vice versa, and in those cases they are exactly as you said, “at odds with each other”. I don’t disagree with the second part of your statement, but I think that is a result of a logical and emotional balance of that dichotomy you hate. There is nothing to say they can’t work together. I can’t help but be reminded of this piece, which illustrates the exact simultaneous contrast and teamwork between the two: <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;

<p>I hope you don’t mind a bit of crude comedy and can take away the idea I mentioned, I realize that link may not be for all.</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying to my post, lol. I feel like I may have very loose interest in too many things. I’ve been getting a little desperate because I admire those people who knew their direction already in high school. I guess there is a right time for everyone and my time hasn’t come, yet, haha. </p>

<p>@halcyonheather I must not have correctly conveyed what I really meant. I didn’t really mean that logic contradicts passion, but that a lot of people nowadays, including me, focus more on what careers that we will most likely be good at and offer us stable high income instead of thinking about choosing careers based on interests, hobbies, etc. </p>

<p>@PengsPhils I do a lot of useless things in my free time, haha. I founded a manga scanlations group lately and has been busy organizing our members’ jobs, designing websites, etc. In my free time, I tend to find myself watching animations, reading manga, and interacting with members of an online group I created to discuss about college admission process and SAT prep practice. I watched the link you sent in your response. It was pretty interesting but had a lot of cussings, lol. </p>

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<p>@fairyfantasy</p>

<p>On the link, it was more to halcy but the idea still probably had some value for you. My apologies if it wasn’t for you, I personally enjoy / don’t mind crude things like that (even though I consider myself an intellectual person), so long as it is integrated with complex ideas/satire.</p>

<p>I will separate and bold fields that I think you should explore more.</p>

<p>Appreciate the added information. I want to preface this with my initial opinion which is that you will find much better advice from people who know. In your case, you seem to have a lot going on (which is a great thing) and people who see you in real life settings may be able to spot a flicker of passion when you are involved in some activity, something anyone on CC can’t do.</p>

<p>I originally responded and want to put good thought into this post because I understand the desire you have to find passion, and I would have wanted the same help myself if I could have gotten it. Based on the OP, you seem to have a lot of social awareness and a will to fix everything wrong you see with the world (there’s a lot I know haha). That leads me to think you may like</p>

<p>General and/or Political Philosophy</p>

<p>It will help you find ways to logically argue for the things you believe to be true, and may even shift some of your opinions in ways you believe to be more correct. It will also utilize your rational side significantly.</p>

<p>Career Consideration: I was always skeptical of what types of jobs that would land you as a major, but I have heard that they have a surprisingly decent market because of the skills in articulation, writing, and rational thought. If this became a serious passion, I would research the job market more before majoring in the area, something I have not done.</p>

<p>Second, I would say you should look into </p>

<p>Engineering / Computer Science</p>

<p>I do not know how involved you are in your engineering club, but engineering would get you good use of math, problem solving, and logic as well. It would also enable an understanding/ability for that VRMMORPG you mentioned.</p>

<p>Related Areas: Other STEM fields if you find one peaks your interest in particular.</p>

<p>My last suggestion would be to explore</p>

<p>Your Music + any art that interests you</p>

<p>Once again I do not know your involvement and passion for music, but many people find strong passions in arts that hit or use their emotional side, perhaps more than you are now.</p>

<hr>

<p>Once again, you should really try to explore fields that peak interest, armchair thinking won’t find a passion. Talk to people you know as well, they will be able to help you much more than CC people can simply because of the nature of this post/situation. Best of luck, and don’t worry too much! You have plenty of time. Many bright people go into college even without much idea, and come out the other end just fine. Its just a matter of time before you stumble upon something, but you have to explore to find it!</p>

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<p>Your post makes me think perhaps early childhood education, education research, or expertise in computer/game-based learning. FWIW. Stay involved and your interests will evolve and emerge. It’s a process. </p>

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<p>@PengsPhils @dyiu13 Thanks for your help! :slight_smile: It was pretty helpful. I think I will either go into college as either Computer Science or undecided now…
Just wondering…is it best to pick a major than to put undecided? I heard that colleges want to see focus and consistency…</p>

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<p>You need to decide if you want computer science because many cs departments are housed in engineering schools and that is often a separate application and it may have different testing requirements. It is probably easier to switch out than to switch in.</p>

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<p>@mathyone Thanks for the advice! I am thinking of that, too…but that means that my app essay needs to be engineering/CS focused and show strong passion. </p>

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<p>

From the sounds of it, you have a /lot/ of passion, even if it’s divided. Maybe you could convey that by talking about your potential. By the looks of it, what you really want to do is leave an impact on the world, and there are a lot of ways to do that. Whether it’s through literature, politics, or science, you can maybe spend some time trying new things to see what feels right to you.</p>

<p>I don’t know you, but from the sounds of it, you’re a leader. You’re involved, and you want to get a lot done. It’s okay to be cheesy, in fact I think that you could be a really influential speaker or writer, even if on the side. As far as what you want to go into, consider something that you can’t imagine yourself ever getting tired of. In my case, that’s scientific research. I can’t imagine getting a stable, repetitive job; I want to keep learning. </p>

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<p>@awakeningvenus I was thinking of applying to college as a Computer Science major because I am pretty interested in the animation and game industry. I was also thinking of going into the medical field…but medical school takes too long and costs too much money, and I don’t like seeing blood. :frowning:
I am going to Clark Scholars program this summer, so hopefully that will help me explore my interests and decide in the end. </p>

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<p>@fairyfantasy‌ Good luck figuring things out! Have you taken AP Comp Sci?</p>

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<p>@awakeningvenus No, I will be taking it next semester. I took webmastering in Freshman year and preAP Computer Science this year, though, </p>

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<p>@fairyfantasy‌ That’s cool! Since you’re into animating and gaming, you might want to look into trying out some programs, like Gamemaker or Blender (pretty sure you can get them both free). It could also give you a feel for whether you really want to go into it or not. </p>

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<p>@awakeningvenus Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll definitely look into that after the exam season is over. I may explore both Gaming and Biotechnology industries for more options. </p>

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<p>@fairyfantasy‌ Good luck!</p>