Seize the Opportunity in Indecision
Monday, January 28th, 2008
I have received a number of questions lately from students and parents about the importance of having a career direction lined up before heading off to college. It seems the prevailing notion behind these questions is that “you need to know what you’re going to do before you decide on a college.” While it is easy to understand that families want some tangible evidence of their likely “return” on dollars invested in education, the reality is that most kids simply aren’t ready or well enough informed to make career decisions when they are seventeen!
If you are contemplating your college options, consider the statistics:
- You will probably change your major in college! Most students (about 65%) change their minds about their majors at least once while they are in college. Half of them change their minds twice.
- Many colleges report that 80-90% of the people who graduated more than 25 years ago are now in careers that did not exist when they graduated.
- About 85% of the parents I survey indicate they are no longer in the careers they intended to pursue when they were 18 years old!
So, what does this say about the importance of “knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life” before you start college? Not much when you think about it. That is why I encourage kids to make decisions based on finding colleges that fit them best. If you are still searching for some direction, don’t worry. You’re normal. It’s difficult to know at any age what you’ll do for the rest of your life, so relax. Seize the opportunity to explore. Turn your indecision into an opportunity to opens doors to learning at colleges that fit you well. Moreover, know that you’ve got a lot of time to figure out what the rest of your life will look like. Take advantage of your college years to become educated about a lot of things including yourself and the world around you. In doing so, learn how to learn. Even if you have pretty firm ideas about a career, your ability to process information and think critically will put you in good stead wherever you might find yourself in life.
Be discriminating as you look. If your passion is film studies and a college doesn’t offer a very substantive program in that area, then it’s not a good fit. And if you find yourself applying to a university that insists that you declare your major as an applicant–even though you haven’t figured it out yet–that place will not be a good fit for you either! The good news is that there are hundreds of great places that welcome students who are undecided about their futures! These are the same places that produce doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, accountants, curators and business executives from among the thousands of undecided students who enter their doors each year.
If you do know what you want to study in college, target places that will accommodate your interests and support your strengths. For example, if you want to pursue chemical engineering, focus on schools that offer it. The same is true with business, elementary education, or graphic design. Look for places that match up well with your interests and offer strong programs that meet your needs.
Finally, to have some fun, ask your parents to talk about their career aspirations when they were your age. The odds are they had vastly different ideas back then about what they would be doing at this point in their lives! Find out what influenced their thinking if and when they discovered new interests. What, if any, changes would they make?
Just as most people of your parent’s generation followed pathways to success that they couldn’t imagine when they were your age, you, too, will find your own path. A good college “fit,” then, is one that will encourage you to explore, follow new directions and offer you the opportunities to do so.
