<p>I’m about to start my sophomore year of college and I have a serious problem. I’ve completely lost direction in my life and have NO clue what to do next. </p>
<p>I went into college with every intention of majoring in finance. I dove right in and spent my entire first year working towards that finance major, convinced that I wouldn’t want to do anything else. Then I started an internship this summer and realized that I absolutely HATE finance. And now, I’m at a loss for what to do next. I’m at a point where I have no idea what I want to study. There are so many things that interest me, but I have no idea what I would actually enjoy pursuing as a career. I would love to use this semester to take a class from each of the majors that interest me, to figure out which I would enjoy best, but that’s no longer an option (I didn’t decide to drop my finance major until just last week, and all the introductory major classes are beyond full). </p>
<p>So the best I can do for now is use this semester to finish up my gen ed requirements. Not a bad course of action, since I have to take these classes anyway, but they probably won’t help me learn more about the fields I’m interested in. </p>
<p>I’m freaking out here. This is the first time in my entire life that I haven’t had a plan to follow, and I have no idea how to find my path, especially since it’s too late for me to sample different classes this semester. I’m also feeling a little discouraged by the idea of having to start whatever my new major is from scratch in the 2nd semester of sophomore year…that’s so late in the game to be starting something brand new. </p>
<p>So I guess I’m wondering if anyone has any advice for me? I’m a major type A perfectionist, so this is really hard for me and I need some reassurance. </p>
<p>Also, what are some ways to get a feel for different fields if you can’t take classes? Is there anything in particular I should be doing? I’ve tried researching online, but that’s only been minimally effective so far (I can’t seem to find much info on various careers aside from just the basic tangibles - job description, salary, outlook, etc.). </p>
Actually this should be a happy time of your life! Think how many people there are like you out there who didn’t do an internship, and so will march thru college and only find out when its way late they don’t like finance. What you need to do is learn to tolerate uncertainty. Sounds like you have trouble with that being a perfectionist, but its good for you to discover that sometimes you have to wait and let things come to you. Of course you should be thinking about what you want, talking to the career center (aptitude tests, career books, etc) and a counselor perhaps as well, but it won’t kill you not to have every detail of your college life and future nailed down. So get out there and exercise to burn off stress, attend all the career fairs your school has, etc.</p>
<p>And as far as switching sophomore year, have you ever thought about how many kids start college premed and are something else by the end of sophomore year? You’re hardly alone in changing your mind, and thre’s plenty of time for another area.</p>
<p>You should relax a little and realize this is a good thing, and most people change their majors/career plans at least once so don’t freak out!</p>
<p>My parents are both in finance and tried to get me into that, and my brother is doing it, but I was always more of a science-nerd at heart, so I’m studying that instead. And don’t worry about limiting your career opportunities because what you major in really is not a big deal and doesn’t have a big impact on most careers (with obvious exceptions like Nursing, Engineering, Education, etc). So really just find something you like and enjoy college. What was your favorite subject in HS? Generally, everyone has 1 thing that they particularly enjoy and excel at. Often this is intuitive so i’m sure you have several things in mind.</p>
<p>Like when I told my parents I wanted to study Neuro, they didn’t know what that was and were like “What kind of job can you get?!” and I guess I was just intuitively drawn to the subject even though I barely learned about it in HS. So if you’re just drawn to History or something, look at the classes your school offers and decide if they interest you, and ask other students in your potential majors how they like it, etc. Don’t worry about career too much now, just think about some things you can see yourself doing as an adult - often this will be unrelated to your major. For example, most History majors obviously don’t become historians or whatever.</p>
<p>That’s far from late in the game. Try visiting some of the academic club meetings of majors you might be interested in to get a feel for what people in those fields do. You can ask people what they did in their internships and other stuff like that. Ask your friends what they do in their majors–I know I personally convinced two of my friends to switch from Biology to English after their freshman years because I talked about what I do and learn in classes.</p>
<p>Also, I’m a senior English major in college now. Up until about halfway through last semester, I was dead set on being a high school English teacher. Then, one day, I had a realization that I DEFINITELY did not want to do that anymore. I can’t explain it, I just realized I wouldn’t really like it and maybe even hate it. So then I was like, “*** do I do now?” Then I just thought about all the things I DO like–I like working with other cultures (gained from study abroad), I love languages (way more than Literature), and I still wanted to do something educational…so I decided on TESOL. Now, I was too late to pick up the Second Language Acquisition Minor or take coursework in it…but sometimes direction can just come from looking at yourself and asking yourself–“What do I like to do?” and then finding the major/career field that does that. Good luck.</p>
<p>Another example–my friend last year was an Accounting major (rising junior) and suddenly realized she HATES accounting. She switched to Marketing, but doesn’t want to do that either. After a conversation/interview with our boss where our boss asked her questions that tried to illuminate her true interests, now she wants to go into Higher Education and Student Affairs, which you can do with ANY major really.</p>
<p>Sophomore year is definitely not too late in the game to switch majors. I actually wish I had taken internships prior to my sophomore year so I could know whether or not my careers of interest were right for me and change majors if I wanted to. I’m about to enter my junior year and for the past days I have been seriously considering changing majors at the last minute (from Kinesiology Pre-Health Professions to Psychology), but my family and friends weren’t too fond of that idea and the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a bad idea. But I think you are in a good position. Finishing up gen ed requirements and looking into other fields is a solid plan. You can take up internships to get a feel for different fields. You can also try talking to professors of major introductory classes and getting them to green card you into their class. It’s worth attempting and you’re bound to get into at least one of them as they are usually huge classes and people drop out early in the semester.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I’m starting to feel a little bit better about this. </p>
<p>I do have another question though - how do you go about getting informational interviews or job shadowing with people in the fields that you’re interested in? Obviously, this is easy if you know someone who works in the field, but what if you don’t know anyone?</p>
Easy. You go to your college career office. Many colleges have lists of alums that have volunteered to talk with current students about their career field.</p>