Advice for Confused College Senior

Parents Forum
1

<p>I am a rising senior in college and don’t know what to do at this crossroad in my life. After graduating at the top of my class, I matriculated to an Ivy League university. At the time it seemed like a good choice because I had received a generous financial aid package that would allow me to graduate debt-free. The admit rate was also so low that I figured I’d be foolish to waste a rare opportunity to “learn with some of the nation’s top scholars." However, I initially hesitated to matriculate because I had many different interests but the university prohibited double majors and offered no vocational courses whatsoever (a fact that frustrates a lot of students actually). I also had a negative prefrosh experience when I visited the campus because the social life seemed to be severely lacking and the students somewhat stressed. Naïve perhaps, I reasoned that I would eventually make friends and learn to love one of the 30-something majors offered.</p>

<p>Fast forward three years. I don’t quite like where I’ve ended up: as a religion major with no minors. I came in thinking I would pick a career involving something with writing because my teachers and professors have always been impressed by my essays and have told me that my writing stands out. Thus, during my freshman and sophomore years, my long-term goal was to choose one subject, become an expert in it, and then write about it as a journalist with the hope of making a social impact. However, after an intense experience writing for the college daily newspaper, which included some harassment from the editors, last-minute assignments, etc., I began to fear that journalism was too stressful a career for my temperament. If anything, I could do freelancing, but I would need to have another career on the side to make that financially viable. Thus, junior year I focused more on the possibility of entering academia, only to realize that I may be too much of a generalist to focus on, say, 19th century American Utopian movements for the rest of my life. After reading articles on The Chronicle of Higher Education, I feared going into debt for a PhD., feeling stressed out while striving for tenure, going on food stamps, and being locked up in an ivory tower, writing articles for the same group of 20 individuals.</p>

<p>Now I don’t know what to do with my life. Religion has been interesting to read about and is really relevant to modern politics, but I don’t think I have a deep and abiding passion for the subject. It also doesn’t help that everyone who hears my major thinks I am going into seminary when I am really learning about religion from a historical, cultural, legal, and literary perspective. A logical next-step might be law school or public policy, but I have never been as enthusiastic about those fields as other humanities and social science majors seem to be.</p>

<p>Lately, I’ve taken an interest in two other “areas”: science and technology, and multimedia. For the first two years of college, I took, and enjoyed, many of the same classes as my pre-med friends, who frequently confused me as another pre-med student. I like the fact that the social impact of STEM is obvious, whereas humanities majors constantly have to defend the purpose of their research and why it makes the world a better place. Right now I am also exploring a long-term interest in art and media by teaching myself how to program. The goal would be create educational websites and use engines like Unity to make interactive learning games and animations.</p>

<p>What do you think: is it realistic to change focus? Obviously I will graduate as a religion major, but should I go back to school for a completely different undergraduate education? I’m aware that the grass may not be greener on the STEM side if I am isolated in a lab, stuck doing grunt work, constantly competing for research funds, and/or have no creative control over projects. It also might be “too late” for me. Regarding educational media, there are many skills I need to learn, and I don’t see many jobs, which is distressing. Overall, my current situation is really stressing me out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>It is very common to change fields. College is where you grow up, and where you get the skills to learn how to learn and communicate etc. I wouldn’t look at more undergraduate work, but rather think about doing graduate work. You might end up in a second tier institution if you are wildly changing direction. You sound like someone who could fun your graduate work with teaching fellowships? Law is a good liberal arts direction, but that doesn’t appeal so what about education? How about something very applied like Physical Therapy (picking up on the medical STEM stuff). In my era, computer science was the booming field, and folks came from Philosophy, the arts, etc to enter the field. Now probably the hot areas are dealing with an aging population, maybe international relations or commerce, or whatever you find an exciting area. At some point you will need to be a contributing member of society. What problems do you want to solve? What kind of people do you want to work with? What lifestyle are you looking for?</p>

<p>You don’t need to throw out anything that you have done, just move forward from here. Likely you have not closed any doors. It is too bad that you didn’t find your college years fulfilling. You can’t relive that, so move on.</p>

3

<p>You have achieved the classic “liberal arts” education, and managed to do it debt free. That is an accomplishment. Liberal arts is designed to teach you how to think, not necessarily what to think, or what to do. You now have general skills, now to figure out what to do with them.</p>

<p>If you like STEM, you might want to consider becoming a Technical Writer.</p>

<p>BTW: Instead of saying you are a Religion major, you could say that you are a History Major, and if asked, you can say you have a focus in Religion. However, on your Resume, list your degree, whatever that is.</p>

4

<p>I agree with OperaDad. I had a bachelor’s degree in history, and my first job out of college was as a tech writer. (Seriously, the world needs people who can explain technical subjects in clear English!). After a few years of that, I went back for a master’s degree in science journalism and became a science writer. </p>

<p>It’s perfectly fine and quite normal to change fields many times throughout your career. Having a liberal arts background makes it easy to do this.</p>

5

<p>Guess I’ll chime in here as another English major who started out as a technical writer (Massmomm’s parenthetic is spot on), moved into the technology I was writing about, later became a principal in a startup, moved up the ranks there, went to B school (ten years post undergrad), directed for a few years, and now have a rather nice, not-too-stressful business analysis job that will carry me to retirement shortly. The main thing my journey has taught me is that you never know where you’ll end up. You are obviously bright, thoughtful, and capable, so there are many things you can do. Rather than feeling limited by where you are, consider all the possibilities your general education positions you for, understanding that you just need to start somewhere—where exactly is often not terribly important. Most of our careers are fluid and shaped by choices made along the way that could never have been crafted in undergraduate school. You will find your way eventually; we all do. I wish you all the best.</p>

6

<p>You’re certainly not alone. I kind of wish you had been able to enjoy your studies without prematurely trying to tie them to a career. With a BA from an Ivy League school, you should have many options.</p>

<p>You don’t need to do undergrad again, and master’s degrees tend to be expensive. If you are interested in art and media, there are plenty of programs out there, and ways to learn (including what you are teaching yourself). Look at Brown’s MEME program and Bard’s MFA (summer in residence). I recently discovered gradcafe online, where you could ask some of your questions.</p>

<p>Would you be interested in being a physician’s assistant? That is a great new field in health care.</p>

<p>Majoring in religion doesn’t need to have any relevance at all to what you end up doing, or it can. Up to you. You might be able to get into some diplomatic work with that background, who knows.</p>

<p>You really have a lot of options and lots of time. Try some things out, take some classes that aren’t part of degree program, fool around with your interests, and things will work out. The uncertainty of graduation can be hard for everyone.</p>

<p>One other thing: I get a slightly depressed vibe from your post. If that is on target, maybe find a counselor at school to talk with. There are plenty of rising seniors in the same boat.</p>

7

<p>If you learned to write you are well ahead of the game. I was a history major and received a graduate degree in history. I became an investigator (civil) for the Federal government and now in retirement for a B1G institution. You will do just fine.</p>

8

<p>Thank you so much for the encouragement and thoughtful responses. I am trying to take a long view of things and not feel stressed or depressed when family members, classmates, and neighbors ask me about my post-grad plans. I do have a few different options–including opportunities to work in diplomacy or have a PhD. partly paid for by a fellowship program, if I choose to enroll in grad school within three years after graduation. It sounds cliche, but I guess I’ll just have to be creative and take it one step at a time…</p>

<p>I hadn’t considered technical writing, although at one point I was interested in science journalism. I’ll look more into it, as well as the programs at Brown and Bard and the gradcafe website that compmom mentioned. Thanks again!</p>

9

<p>“Slightly depressed” vibe? Always looking at the negative side, bitter about attending an Ivy, assigning blame and not taking responsibility, over sensitive to stress–you’d better get an evaluation.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t go into a PhD program right away with this much doubt. I’d certainly think very hard before going if the program wasn’t tuition waiver and stipend.</p>

10

<p>This is why nobody should go into the liberal arts.</p>

11

<p>Hope…there is nothing wrong with studying liberal arts. There are numerous professions which welcome these graduates. </p>

<p>Not every student wants to be an engineer, or a doctor.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Maybe you just had a bad day at your 9 to 5 job, but this is not the place to vent and dump your stress on someone else. Try juggling. It’ll help make you a more pleasant person by eliminating some of the irritability.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>The problem is not with Liberal Arts, the problem is the cost. If one can get it debt free, then it is the classical education to get. It can make you a Renaissance person, not specialist.</p>

14

<p>At this point, do the best you can and don;t stress. With free electives, continue to explore the areas of interest, e.g. . Finish strong and don’t stress. If you get a little deeper in some areas, it might become clear what else you might like to learn.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I disagree with this. Be proud that you majored in Religion. I am assuming you will be looking for a job when you finish school. A less common major seperates you from the pack. Recruiters notice when someone is different. Also, if you are looking for a job, they will figure you aren’t going to a seminary. You undoubtedly had to write a fair amount. I always had papers to write in my religion classes. Good writers are always needed. Who knows you may find a place where the company is willing to pay for you to get some additional schooling if you find you want or need it.</p>

15

<p>My also graduated from an Ivy as a religion major. She actually loved being a religion major and did a study abroad in her major. </p>

<p>I totally understand the looks and the questions when you tell someone that you are majoring in religion, because we’ve heard everything from “how could you let her major in religion to is she going into the ministry when she graduates?” She tell people that most of her religion major friends are actually atheist and reminds them that it is comparative religion.</p>

<p>However, it has never stopped her flow. She graduated and then went on to law school. She has friends who are religion majors who have gone to med school, law school, consulting, TFA, IB, Google, etc. She has friends who decided to do PhDs in their major at HYP. She believes that being a religion major helped her tremulously in law school because of the way that she thinks and as tsdad stated, she can write. She says that it has always been an interesting conversation starter as many people have asked about her major.</p>

<p>My question is what else have you done during your 4 years; did you do any internships?</p>

<p>Keep in mind, that if you get a second bachelors, **you **are going to have to pay for it.</p>