dear college graduates

[insertnamehere]

i ask that those of you older and wiser share their experiences and provide some guidance. who had an unusually hard time settling on a major? how did you finally decide on what you wanted to do? any advice for a junior who still has no earthly idea of what kind of degree they hope to graduate with or career they would like to pursue? im almost to the point of saying fuck it, picking something i can wrap up quickly, getting a degree, and trying to hurry up and get a grown up job so i can get on with supporting myself and all that, but i know that's probably not the best idea, cause then i'd likely end up one of those people who hates their job. but then, im sure everyone at least a little hates their job.

i get fleeting ideas for things i think would be cool majors/careers, and get all excited about it and plan out all the classes i would need to graduate and figure out how long it would take me to graduate, and normally within the next 5 days i'm like, "nah... that wouldn't work" and scrap the idea. i know it's normal to have SOME difficulty, or even to change your major a time or two, but i seem to be having much more trouble with it than anyone else. my grades suffer because it's hard to stay motivated and work hard when you don't have any kind of goals in mind.

alright old people, do your thing. advice, criticism, encouragment, nagging, etc. all welcome.

[ScarySquirrel]

My sophomore year of college I basically freaked out in the middle of a professor's lecture about programming (my major was computer science/information systems at the time) and realized that I not only hated programming, but I basically hated everyone else in my major... so I got up in the middle of class and just left. Never to return. Luckily for me, that was my only class dealing with my major for that semester... so it was the only class I had to skip.

After a couple days of wiggin' out and basically doing a lot of pacing while thinking out loud, I picked up my college catalog and opened it to a random page. This random page listed the requirements and expectations for those folks who wanted to get a degree in advertising and public relations (which is one major at my school). I said to myself, "Fuck it. Why not?" and decided that was going to be my major. Class was easy, it was pretty fun, and it turns out that a lot of my peers and professors thought I was pretty damn good at the stuff.

Hey, so I graduated this past April with a degree in advertising and public relations. Now I'm working sixty hours a week at one job that doesn't pay very well... only so I can save money and move out to California in August. Koreatown/Los Angeles to be exact.

My advice after all that rambling? Pick something. Who cares what it is? Just get through it and finish up. Graduate with it and get out of school and start chasing after your "real" dreams (once you figure out what they are). That's what I'm doing. It's going alright so far.

[insertnamehere]

well my current major is biology, which ive found i mildly dislike in itself, but for the bio major you have to take a ton of chemistry. like 4 classes shot of a chem BA. i haaaaaaaaaate chemistry to no end, and i have to take more of those classes than anythign else, so i think i have to get out of bio but i dont know what to do. i loved the idea of vet school, but with my grades, theres no way i could ever have any kind of chance of gettign in.

im considering psych, because that's always been interesting to me. i just feel like that kind of major doesnt promise a good job (not that biology does either). i also though of going into some kind of engineering, that seems really interesting, but it would probably take a year of working towards meeting the prereqs just to apply to the college of engineering at my school, and i'm a bit mathematically challenged.

i'm not gonna lie, income is a consideration. i dont need gobs and gobs of money, but i grew up poor and im sick of it. i want to be able to like, buy groceries, and go to the dentist, and not worry about it. but mostly, i dont want to end up with a job that i absolutely cant stand.

[cosmo105]

get your GE out of the way before choosing anything. don't take major-specific classes that might just be a waste of time until you are SET with what you know you want to do. i changed my major 3 times before deciding on what i have now. i wasted 2 and a half years doing other bullshit, and i won't have my degree until i'm 25 because of it. looking back i sort of wish i had stuck with astronomy, my first choice since childhood, but i knew it wasn't really for me. i finally decided to go for something that i really had a passion for and knew i could excel at, and i'm glad i did.

[Dorothy Wood]

I pussed out and got a degree in elementary education when I started in architecture. I should've stuck it out in arch, but I was 19 and retarded.

I'm good at education. but I'm like smart and stuff, so really, I'm mildly good at anything.

my ideal job would be to combine art and education in my own way. like starting a center where kids could learn about art and science together. but, like, you need money for that.


I have no advice, just do whatever is most practical at first, make some money, then do what you really want.

[Brother McDuff]

not knowing what you wanna do and major in is a very stressful time and realization in college. but being a person who has been through it myself, the best advice i can give is to just not worry about it. when you find what you wanna do the rest of your life you will know right away and pursue it. until it hits you, you might as well just choose something that interests you, regardless of whether or not its something you see yourself doing. its the degree, the piece of paper, that really matters.

sure it would be ideal if you knew what you wanted in time to major in it or get a full education in it, but thats actually less common than the latter. enjoy yourself, learn about some cool shit and graduate. take comfort in the fact that your in a typical situation and luckily, you're one of the few people with sense enough to question their career choice without blindly walking into a torturous job.

[insertnamehere]

get your GE out of the way before choosing anything. don't take major-specific classes that might just be a waste of time until you are SET with what you know you want to do. i changed my major 3 times before deciding on what i have now. i wasted 2 and a half years doing other bullshit, and i won't have my degree until i'm 25 because of it. looking back i sort of wish i had stuck with astronomy, my first choice since childhood, but i knew it wasn't really for me. i finally decided to go for something that i really had a passion for and knew i could excel at, and i'm glad i did.

I just finished up my 3rd year of college, so I'm very much done with any GE requirements that would be applicable regardless of major. I'm still considered a junior because I failed a bunch of stuff, and because I've been taking less than the number of hours they reccomend. My school reccomends 16 hrs/semester + a summer session to graduate in 4 years, but since I seem to suck at college, I feel like 16 hrs is a bad idea and normally do like 13/semester instead, which only puts me farther behind. But better to pass 13 hrs/ semester than fail at 15. I was taking summer classes and had to drop the first summer session classes because I've got an especially bad case of mono, but I'm going back for the second half and taking a psych class that sounds very interesting. While I'm there I'm going to try to make use of the counseling center to see if they can be of any use to me. I went once before and the lady was a bitch and didn't help at all, but I'm going to ask for a different couselor and try to get some careery advice. Then, HOPEFULLY, I can register for some classes that actually matter this fall. Otherwise, I'll take a random assortment of things I think I can do well in and waste another semester.

I should technically be graduating spring 08 but there's no way that can happen. It makes me sad because people in my highschool class are almost have grownup jobs, while I'll be in college forever, and a cashier at a quick-casual restraunt for the rest of my foreseeable future.

[jennyb]

I started college with a major in Retail Merchandising and Management. I had to take a class in the art building to fulfill an art credit. I aced the class and looked into what my options in the art dept were because I was lovin it over there. I picked Interior Design even though I stuck it out in ceramics to almost major in fine art, but fine art can't reliably pay the bills as well as Interior Design. I graduated with a major in art and a concentration in interior design. I moved out to California to work for my cousin who's got his own architecture office. That was 1998. Here I am 9 years later basically working an architecture student's dream job without having my formal architectural training. Tiz a blessing and a curse as I sit at my computer on a Sunday night working away on door and window details... :( but yeah, I'm an architect, but not really, I dunno what to call myself actually.

I think you just pick something you're remotely interested in. Life is going to throw you curve balls that will flow with what you've started and just go with it. As long as you're bright and have ambition I think you don't have to worry too much about being pigeon holed in what "major" you pick. Just get that higher education under your belt and use that degree to the best of your ability.

When in absolute doubt, major in business. Seems all the business majors I knew took that degree and did all sorts of things with it.

Ok, now I'm off to work.

[QueenAdrock]

I had no idea what I was going to do. I was thinking either English, history, biology. Nothing having to rely heavily on math, because I hate math. Biology always interested me and I've always gotten A's in science, but it required calculus and some other things and didn't interest me as much as it could have. Ultimately I picked history because I had an AMAZING history professor my first two years who made me REALLY love history. Granted, it wasn't as fun once I left his class, but it was good enough.

If you don't really have a calling, it's okay. I mean, if you're just thinking "liberal arts" it doesn't much matter what you get your degree in. I'm working with people with their international affairs degrees, one person did Arabic studies, and another has her degree in business. We all do the same job, it doesn't matter. Most of the time employers just want to see that you have a 4-year education and it means you're smart, motivated to do well, a multi-tasker, and capable. Unless you want to do something specific (be an engineer, doctor, lawyer, scientist), it really doesn't matter too much. And for some of those disciplines, it relies on what your master degree is in. I was history, but in about 2 years I'm going to be a librarian because I'm going to have my MLIS degree. So...yeah. If you're thinking liberal arts, go with what's fun and you'll do well in - everything else will fall into place after that. (y)

[DIGI]

1. Make a list of all the majors your school offers that you might possibly be interested in.

2. Narrow those down to 5.

3. Take those 5 major possibilites and research potential fulfilling career opportunities (monetarily and aesthetically) pertaining to said majors.

4. Narrow those down to 10.

5. Research each possible career and through process of elimination, you will come up with something (preferably the most lucrative).


I was in the same boat and I graduated with a philosophy degree. I loved studying that material and felt the education was more beneficial (hippie phase). Don't flip out, I'd bet the majority of the population have a career that has nothing to do with their bachelor degree and if/when you do figure out what you wanna do, a master's degree should be a definite option and the only prerequisite is that you have a bachelor's degree, unless you're trying to get into education/med school/law school.

[QueenAdrock]

Apparently only be a lawyer if you REALLY REALLY want to be a lawyer, otherwise you'll die.

Kinesiology/physiology/etc. are good fields. I have one friend who was kinesiology and she works as a personal trainer now and makes VERY good money. She helps other people get in shape which is rewarding for her, and she makes a shit-ton of money doing it.

There are only a few fields you can see making a lot of money right off the bat, but there are quite a few fields that have specific jobs that can make you just as much. My one friend graduated from the Robert Smith School of Business at Maryland (in the top 15 Bidness Schools I believe), and another friend got her biology degree. The business girl works at Wells Fargo for $45K per year, the bio girl works at a pharmaceutical company for $48K per year. You wouldn't expect for her to be making that much with a cell biology degree, yet she is.

[QueenAdrock]

She makes around $45,000 a year working at a gym, which is very good for just having your bachelors. Plus, she gets free gym. But yeah, a lot of rich fat whiteys come in wanting to lose weight so they like to throw money at her to help them do it.

[insertnamehere]

i dont like you types of people, with your "interests" and your "skills" and your "dreams" :mad:

backup plan: pretty up, marry rich, have no job

[JohnnyChavello]

I've always considered being a lawyer. It does seem like a lot of very hard work though. Also I hear lawyers have no lives cause of the workload. What can the lawyers of the forum tell me? And people studying for it.

I will probably do corporate law because people are always whining about what the big businesses are doing.

Going the route of law school is a lot of hard work and a lot of sunk money in student loans. However, if you do well at a good law school and take a position with a good law firm you stand to make very good salary right out of the gate.

It goes without saying that young associates in competitive firms work heavy hours (70 hours and up a week easily), but some law firms have quality of life agendas built into their billable hours requirements (the number of hours each year that are spent on work that can be billed out to clients), it just depends on who you're working for. It's a tradeoff like anything else. If you want to make that kind of money you're going to have to be willing to work really hard while you're young.

If, as you mentioned, you want to work against corporate interests and rage against the machine, which I admire, by the way, you will probably go the route of public interest work, which does not pay particularly well. Young public interest lawyers have the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile, and generally work much more reasonable hours, but they also make something like one fifth of what their colleagues make in private practice.

Being a lawyer can be very interesting work. It's not for everyone, but I've done other things in my life and nothing else has been as engaging. Look into it, and if you have an questions I'd be willing to try and help.