If you watched the YouTube video tribute to Steve Jobs that I posted on Friday, you should have noticed that he encourages the graduating class of Stanford to find what they love to do.
He’s talking, of course, about one’s life work – that day in, day out job that you commit yourself to and that earns you an income that you can (hopefully) live off of.
When it comes to choosing a major, the same advice applies – find what you love to do; keep looking, and don’t settle.
Why? Ideally, that major will be the key that opens the door to that job you love and look forward to going to each and every day.
More immediately, that major will determine a large percentage of the courses you are required to take during your college career. If you don’t enjoy those classes, college will be a pretty miserable experience. So, when you open up your course catalog (or download it, as you are more likely to do), start searching for majors that line up with your interests.
For some of you, that may mean pursuing less “useful” majors – majors that don’t immediately correlate to specific jobs or that don’t lead to high paying jobs. Take for instance my undergraduate major – English. Not quite the field people think of going into when they want to be rich and famous. But for me, the English major was a perfect fit. I have always loved to read, and studying English allowed me to dabble into all kinds of other fields – history, religion, sociology, psychology, etc. In other words, I never got bored and felt like I had more to learn at the end of every semester.
Am I making lots of money now? No. Did all of my family think an English major was the best choice? Definitely no. But I am currently in a job that I thoroughly enjoy and am able to live comfortably as a result. I couldn’t ask for a better, especially in today’s tough economic situation.
If you are in need of resources to help you choose a major, be sure to visit your campus’ career center and talk to professors whose classes you enjoy. They can help you to determine if their area of study is right for you.
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