How did you know...?

[Vanilla Chai]

How did you know what to major in? I am so stressed and overwhelmed with it that I am actually breaking down. For the past year and a half or so I was planning on going into pre-physical therapy, then last semester instead I was considering health promotion. However, after two days of an "intro" class for that major, I dropped it. I was already too overwhelmed with the amount of work it had. Now I am realizing how much I like -- perhaps love, I don't know -- my psychology classes.

I feel guilty about considering majoring in something that is not directly within in "health" field, especially because I don't know if this is just a spur-of-the-moment emotional thing or what. It's stressful, overwhelming, and making me think that I don't have the emotional strength to even handle this.

So...how did you know what to major in, and what to pursue? And advice would be appreciated.

 

[Kendrek]

My advice to you would be to think about what you want to do with the rest of your life, and why are you going to college.

The reason i say this is because both me and my girlfriend have thought about similar things and these questions have helped us. For my girlfriend it was more that she wanted to be a doctor but after seeing her sister who has just started as a doctor lose all of her family time to a very stressful job. She has decided to become a dentist instead, even though the school work is just as hard but because the lifestyle is much more laid back and enjoyable once she has started practicing dentistry.

For me I am only going to college so that i have a degree to fall back on in case getting my own business off the ground doesn't work out. But even so i decided to get a degree in Finance. Now this relates to you because when i started my finance specific classes i was like oh crap this is ridiculous. The work was overwhelming and much more difficult then just doing a management major. But i said to myself that im not going to quit just because the work is hard. And i am very glad that i ddint quit because the knowledge i gained from my finance courses has already started to make me more money in my daily life.

So basically im saying to you that if you are moving into psychology because it truly interests you and you feel thas what you want to do for the rest of your life then major in it. But if your doing it because the other option seems to stressful or too difiicult then re-evaluate the reason your going to school and if its to get a good job that your happy with then maybe you need to deal with the harder stuff now so you can be happier later on.

In the end just do what makes you happy. For my girlfriend that was dentistry and for me it was finance.

 

[antioch21]

I had actually entered college as an English major, and intended to go on to law school. In high school, a friend of the family who was a lawyer had recommended English, so that's the primary reason why I chose it. However, after my freshman year, I changed my mind about wanting to be a lawyer, but I was interested in doing journalism and other professional writing, so I didn't have to worry about changing majors.

But it's been amazing because throughout my time at college, God really seems to have been leading me in a completely different direction, completely unrelated to English. In my first two years, I took several geography/regional planning courses as electives, and I really enjoyed the material and my professors usually encouraged me to either switch majors or double major, but I kept shrugging it off, not really thinking there was much of a job market out there for regional planning majors. Turns out I was wrong, but by the time I realized some of the jobs I could get in that field, I was in the second semester of my junior year, so it didn't seem possible that I could double major. However, after speaking with the department chair about possibly getting a regional planning minor, she looked over my transcript and realized that I actually had enough time in my senior year to complete my English major as well as fulfill all of the requirements for a regional planning degree.

So now my #1 choice for a job after i graduate in the spring would be some kind of position in a town or city hall doing mapping or planning work, which is completely different from what I came to college for. I don't know what year you are in college, but it would seem like you still have time to see where your passion lays. If you believe that God is calling you to work in the psychology field, take a few more classes (especially if you can find some that would fulfill both major and core course requirements) and see if it's something that you still feel the same way about it after another semester or so.

 

[explodingboy]

I don't think about what I do.

I picked something that sounded interesting, and I had fun at it, so I'm now on my second year of a social science degree. If it hadn't been this one I still like the sound of film school and the like because I'm a film geek.

 

[CMar04]

Pick something that you like and that you would do well in, but make sure it's something you really would really want to make a career out of.

 

[JSGuitarist]

For me it came after exploration. I had about four or five different ideas for majors before I found a general category I wanted to stick with. International Business, Management, Entrepreneurship, even tried a semester of Health Information Management. Perhaps the semester of Medical was the low point, but I was taking Accounting at the same time (never knew anything about it before), but I really enjoyed it, and my instructor thought I was very good in the subject, so I stuck with that. After time went on, I considered Accounting Fraud Investigation, so that's my primary area of focus. I found (and still find) Accounting to be difficult, but I enjoy it enough to want to stick with it. That's how it happened for me, and I am very confident about this career choice. There's my story.

 

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Well, lets see here...


When I began college in 2002 I was a flight technology major with a flight officer specialization. I worked toward that goal for four and a half years, until, due to personal reasons, I had to take some time off. In the few years since then, I've come to realize that I actually want to go into teaching. I'm now signed up to fulfill some requirements to get into another college and get my teaching certificate.

The thing that changed my mind was working in/around the aviation industry. I was able to meet people who lived my "dream job" and see what life was like for them day-to-day. I found out I really didn't like any part of it! I didn't like the crazy hours away from home (even if you do get a lot of time off here and there) the unpredictable availability of employment, and many other factors.

While I was greatly satisfied that I finally knew what I did NOT want to do, I began thinking of what I would like from a job. I sat down and wrote on a piece of paper what kind of things I would like from a job. First and foremost, for me, was helping people. I wanted to do something where I could help people who were strugling and inspire them to do better. I wanted to be able to be home with my family on a regular basis. I also wanted something with a lower risk than flying jumbo-jets. I don't want to sit at a desk all day... etc.

I also thought of things I'm good at. I have a family full of educators, and have spent many hours in my sisters second grade room for years and really loved that. I loved working with students, showing them airplanes and explaining how they work, and finally decided that the one thing I REALLY loved all my life was.... TEACHING! When I looked back, one of the things I loved most about flying airplanes was simply telling others about it. Telling them how they fly, how they're built, etc.

I told my dad and he told me the steps I needed to take, and two years later I'm happier than I've ever been, working in a local middle school in 6th and 7th grade classrooms! It's the greatest thing ever, and I'm able to share my love of flying with the students as well, so now I get the absolute best of BOTH worlds!

So, the reader digest version of the above is simply to think about what you would like to do in your life, brake it down into simple things that bring joy into your life. And not just recent things. Ever since I was eight I was explaining lift, thrust, weight, and drag to adults. Find something that fits as many of those aspects into one job, and there you have it.

 

[arunma]

Hmm, perhaps as someone who's out of college and in graduate school I'm in a decent position to answer this.

I chose to major in physics back in eleventh grade. I stuck with it, never changed my major, and then graduated and went to grad school. I've had doubts along the way. Even now I'm contemplating dropping my career and going to seminary (though I'll probably finish my PhD first, so that I have some earning capability). But I realized that these were just whims, and I didn't alter the course of my life on that basis. And at the end of the day, I enjoy what I do.

I determined my major on the basis of classes that I'd taken in high school. I did quite well in science and math. Didn't do so well in art or English. Clearly my academic aptitude is mostly scientific. I liked physics the most, so I went with it. I somehow got into physics grad school, so I guess I made the right choice.

Here's my recommendation. Choose a major that gives you a reasonable career opportunity, and that you can see yourself doing as a career. Everyone agrees on the second part, but not always on the first. So let me stress that choosing an employable major is important. The Bible tells us to work with our hands and not be dependent on others (1 Thessalonians 4:11). If we're going to be making financial contributions to our churches, we need to first be able to meet our own needs, so it's important to choose an employable major. This is why I would say that employablity needs to take priority over enjoyability. If you choose your dream major and have a great time in college, but aren't able to feed yourself once you graduate, of what benefit is that to you? Since you're just starting college, you're in an excellent position to figure out what majors will lead to a career path, and then choose from there.

You might want to consider your academic strengths and weaknesses, and then determine what majors you can reasonably consider. Of the majors that can also lead to careers, hopefully you'll be able to find one that you also like. But again, in this economy I can't stress enough the importance of thinking about life after graduation!

 

[Fed]

Basically you need to balance doing something you love with something that's realistic/will leave you financially stable.

 

[N67896]

How did you know what to major in? I am so stressed and overwhelmed with it that I am actually breaking down. For the past year and a half or so I was planning on going into pre-physical therapy, then last semester instead I was considering health promotion. However, after two days of an "intro" class for that major, I dropped it. I was already too overwhelmed with the amount of work it had. Now I am realizing how much I like -- perhaps love, I don't know -- my psychology classes.

I feel guilty about considering majoring in something that is not directly within in "health" field, especially because I don't know if this is just a spur-of-the-moment emotional thing or what. It's stressful, overwhelming, and making me think that I don't have the emotional strength to even handle this.

So...how did you know what to major in, and what to pursue? And advice would be appreciated.

For me, it was pretty much a no-brainer. When you're lying in an ICU bed asking God what He wants with the life He's just gone out of His way to save, it's considered impolite to respond to His instructions with, "Naaaah, that's too wierd. Pick me out some other job."

However, just because He told you Something doesn't mean He told you Everything. In other words, He might want you to start off in a certain direction and then give you course corrections as you march on. Look at it this way: Your calling is unique, as is the training you will need to fulfill that calling.

Best advice: Learn the discipline of prayer. Nothing in the world is better for developing patience and the ability to hear His voice. Ya don't gotta understand it; just recognise and obey it.

FWIW, Psych is not incompatible with a health-care field (...unless you're talking about a secular psych education). I'm a pre-Nursing major, and have the distinct impression Saint Dymphna is taking an interest in my developement.

 

[Saruwatari]

I started college thinking I would end up working in some computer oriented career, but after taking class in those fields, although passing them I realized that it wasn't what I really wanted to do. I did however enjoy my music classes including my music Theory class from high school, as far as I know I'm planning on pursuing that, although I also liked my English classes, because of them I actually like writing now.

 

[Nessie]

I went with the one thing I was most interested in, as opposed to just something that would get me a high paying job someday.

The best piece of advice I could give is to follow what you like, and NOT what other people are telling you to do. I had a teacher in high school who was like a mentor to me... he was one of the best motivators I had ever met. He was great at turning students into love-of-knowledge machines and many went on to very prolific colleges.

When I graduated I had received a scholarship to law school and had high enough grades to be able to go to just about any college. I don't say this to brag (bc by now I've learned that my grades in HS meaning absolutely nothing now!), but to tell you this:

I poured over college books for four years straight trying to choose the right college and major, everyone thought I should go to the east coast... but all my heart said was, "what you really want is to go to Bible College..." When that scholarship letter came in the mail, I didn't really have to think twice. I rejected it for Bible college. What's sad is that the teacher I told you about seemed horribly disappointed in my choice. He thought I was throwing away everything I had worked for and settling for something less. What's worse, he is a Christian.

To this day I am more happy than ever that I followed my own heart, though just about nobody supported it. I'd hear constantly, "What? Heh, you're gonna be a preacher?" No, I'm not. I just realized that with a degree in ministry, everything I'm interested in I can get a job doing (education, social work, full time ministry, etc).

 

[sablehalloway]

Something you will love doing for 50+ years and love waking up to. :]

 

[tjwallace2]

Don't worry...I had to change my major like 4-5 times before I really knew that what I was doing was from the Lord...just be willing to give up anything you're holding onto and make yourself available to Him first!

 

[heron]

but make sure it's something you really would really want to make a career out of.

Choose a major that gives you a reasonable career opportunity, and that you can see yourself doing as a career. Everyone agrees on the second part, but not always on the first. So let me stress that choosing an employable major is important.

We live in a culture where doing what we love is elevated so highly, that we don't always know what we love. That can put an awfully high expectation on us, to narrow down what we love. It also puts us into a self-based mentality, which isn't necessarily wrong, but can harm our futures.

Doing what you love is usually what you've found yourself good at, so that does help to a point. Also look at what empassions you -- are you driven to help a sector of society, or solve a world problem? If so, will that passion stay with you for years and become a core force, putting perspective on all you do? If so, listen to it. But if not, find a path that will help you pay your bills.

We can search for perfect vision, but the solid true vision is a need for food, shelter, and clothing. Menial outlook, yes. But that is the fact of life.

We like to imagine ourselves falling into a defining role of who we are -- I am a nuclear physicist, I am an ambassador, I am the one who saved the starving street children of Latin America. But we are ourselves, and our job enables us to address needs and issues that compel us. Our job is the vehicle, the financier, the thing that spurs us on. But it is still our selves that drive that vehicle.

Break up your life into sections. Write down a few realistic goals that you would like to accomplish, or at least try. Physical therapy, psychology, some practical health-related career raising your family well, caring for parents when they age, feeling fruitful in a decent career. Put them into a realistic order.

For instance, you might look at a two-year degree in med tech, just to give yourself an employable option. You might lose credits when moving on to the next step, but you will at least have a way to support the next step.

Then look at the highest degrees or training required for each step you're thinking of, and map them out in a logical order. You might be able to do a few of them. As you build knowledge and expertise, some of these overwhelming courses will be much more manageable.

Look at ways you can weave psychology through some of the early practical phases, because it will probably be a running theme. Look into some jobs like academic advising, that will give you counseling experience without needing specific training.

Psychology also applies to training, marketing, advertising, communications, writing, teaching, management... anything that involves people. Analysis of behavior and the mind helps productivity and efficiency in many fields.

Don't give up. Just don't expect yourself to do things in exactly the same order as other people might. Bite off smaller pieces.