<p>In the fall, I will be a freshman at a very well reputed business school. Let me just explain how I ended up here before I explain my question. I was pretty interested in journalism or international relations for the past few years. But last summer I attended an international studies program and discovered that it’s not a field I want to go into. That made me question journalism, my other interest. I started researching it and what it takes to be a journalist, and realized I don’t want to do that for the rest of my life either. So here I was, the end of summer, and I was a nervous wreck because I had no idea what schools I would apply to. My plan was to apply to Northwestern ED (great journalism and pretty good int’l relations), where I had a pretty good chance getting in. But that was shot when I realized I didn’t want to do journalism anymore. Several people recommended I try business, because it’s a great field to get into, and even if I don’t like it I can do a lot with a business degree.</p>
<p>So here I am, about to be a freshman at Wharton, and I’m not sure I want to do business either. Penn allows us to take classes within their other undergrad schools, so it’s not like I would have to study just business. However, I was looking at the requirements and I feel like I will be filling up my schedule with requirements for the next 2 years. I haven’t really had the chance to study an array of things because my high school offered a limited selection of electives. Now, I will again be limited in my electives because of the business requirements I need to fill. I feel like I can’t decide what I’m going to study and possibly do for a career if I don’t try a bunch of things, and I could waste 2 years before I could do that. I could make an internal transfer and switch to their College of arts and sciences, but I feel guilty leaving such a selective program. </p>
<p>I’m assuming I’m not the first person in the college world who has come from a high school offering limited elective options. So for those of you who are in my boat, how did you know that you were studying the right thing when you didn’t have several other things to compare? How about people who changed programs / schools in order to study something else, but then had second thoughts afterwards and regretted their decision? Experiences and insights would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I think you know you are studying the right thing when you love what you are doing and you enjoy doing your homework. However, I’m the kind of person who will follow a dream rather than live a stressed and boring life but earn a lot of money. Don’t worry, though. Many people never get a job in the same area as they get their degree in, and they do just fine. My high school is finally expanding its elective options… but by now I’m a senior and it won’t do me much good : )</p>
<p>I’m worried about the same thing, I have the horrible feeling that arch. is not what I want to do (but I don’t know … don’t have any idea what i DO want to do) </p>
<p>Hard thing is, I don’t even get any electives for the first 3 semesters, and to switch is hard as well. (CMU makes it hard I guess). I’m almost opposite the OP, I figure I want to switch into Business, heh (which is way selective at CMU as well)</p>
<p>I’m way stressed about it, but even still the worst that could happen is that I’m totally unhappy, in which case I’ll try to switch majors, or transfer schools (god forbid)</p>
<p>Either way, i think most freshman will have at least a bit of the same feelings, don’t worry.</p>
<p>When it doesn’t **** you off (too much) to stay up all night doing whatever it is that you’re supposed to be doing. ;)</p>
<p>There’s a difference between studying something in school and enjoying it, and actually enjoying the profession, though, I would say. I actually loved architecture school, but I got a job with an architect over the summer and realized that I would probably hate the profession once I graduated. That’s not to say that I couldn’t have done something else in the field that I would have enjoyed more, but I switched majors anyway. Turns out I like studying the new major a lot less than the old one and I got C’s in a bunch of my classes. So now I think I’m going to just work for a few years after I graduate, maybe try out different jobs, and then think about grad school.</p>
<p>What I would suggest is to try to get a variety of summer jobs/internships/whatever in fields that you might what to work in, to get a feel what it’s like to actually do that for a living. Might be harder to find than a summer cashier job and you might make less money at it, but it’s a lot more valuble in the long run.</p>
<p>you need a lot more advice than anyone can type here. UPenn has a great counseling program (both personal issues and career guidance). When you start school in the fall make appointments and talk with them.</p>
<p>I’ve actually had similar concerns regarding business. My situation is a bit different. I’ve been planning out what I want to do for a career and that is to become a baseball executive. I figured a business degree would help me just like it has helped some current execs. Well I kept thinking even though business would be ideal (I was originally thinkin sports mgmt but that just limits my job options making it even harder to find a job) I certainly do not see myself working down in Wall Street or something like that for a career. Plus I also considered something else which I think often gets overlooked. Business unlike other majors is not a profession. Accounting is a profession, law is a profession, medicine is a profession, all types of engineering are professions, and so on. Marketing is not a profession, neither is mgmnt and all those other fields that fall into business. The way I see it is that all of the stuff in business is just all theory, and a lot of it is more dependent on experience (which is why a lot of MBA programs require you to have 2-3 yrs of work experience before you apply unlike medical/law school which doesn’t require work experience but rather high grades). So the more I think about it why should I waste 4 years studying theory? Although I’m in the College of Business Administration at Fordham and undecided on my concentration I think I will definitely be picking up some kind of minor. I’ll still pursue my career but if that doesn’t work out I’m hoping my minor will aid me somewhat. I mean this is how ridiculous it is to get a business degree. People who study engineering (any type) working for companies eventually stop their practice and become executives of the company they are working for or their own company. And that seems to be more common nowadays because these types of people know their field because that’s what they studied and then go on to work on the business side with that extra knowledge of their field, something that you can’t get by simply studying business whether at the undergrad or grad level.</p>
<p>Well that’s what I think anyways.</p>
<p>EDIT: I am still in the CBA program at Fordham. The college is full so dropping out of it and then wanting to go back in would be hard so I’ll just wait until at least a year or so to determine if it’s for me.</p>
<p>My advice:
Use your first year and explore all the opportunities.
But, make sure you will be able to use the credit to graduate.
I had to fullfill a graduation requirement, my very last undergraduate semester. I really enjoyed the class, in fact, I had a tandem professorship, 2 full professors taking turns teaching the class. If I had taken the class my freshman year, who knows what would have happened.</p>
<p>Also, don’t make 4 years a priority. Try, a full-year paid, internship, this is really good if you are interested in an MBA. They want solid work experience, and being a cashier at Target, ain’t going to cut it.</p>
<p>Also, don’t pass up study-abroad, if that interests you, even if you don’t speak the language.</p>
<p>To me it seems like such a waste of time (and money) to spend all these years studying the wrong things and then do nothing with those degrees. My dad, for example, was in engineering for 2 years at MIT, where he really didn’t have abundant options, realized he hated it, tried business, tried math, and finally graduated with a degree in architecture (he changed his major A LOT). Then, he decided he didn’t want to do all of those things, had to go to school for another year to fulfill pre-med requirements and then went to medical school. He became a surgeon, and he liked it enough, but he constantly tells me how he always wonders what would have happened if he found something he REALLY loved. He said it took him forever to find something he could stand because he had no previous experience to compare with. I wonder if being in an undergrad business school rather than a liberal arts program will put me in the same situation, where I don’t have all these options to dabble in all sorts of things every semester will limit my ability to really compare business to other things.</p>
<p>I guess I just don’t want my dad’s story to happen to me. I want to look back on my college education and think that it was useful rather than a crapshoot.</p>
This IS an issue most kids face, even though most don’t know they face it! All around you are kids who’ve picked a career often based on glamour (law, investment banking, medicine) even though they know little about the day-to-day workings of the job. So how to get informed? One is by doing a lot of reading. If you read biographies about people in various professions you start to get a sense of what you might like and dislike. Another is talking to adults at career fairs, working with the career center to take advantage of their services. A crucial method is real-world experience thru internships, workshops, and the like. The OP already had done some of that which ruled out careers that initially seemed promising.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I don’t have a crystal ball to share with you or any magical secrets that can help you settle your future. But take some comfort that at least you <em>are</em> thinking about it, which is something a lot of kids around you are not doing.</p>
<p>you can always do some research and reading on other subjects yourself, if you worry you wont get exposed to them before it is too late. Find a passion on your own and then go study it.</p>