Selecting a university major can feel like a truly daunting process. But it doesn’t have to be. While the pressure to select a vocation may feel very real and intense, the truth is that most majors open more doors than is obvious at first glance. Very few (if any) undergraduate degrees represent a permanent commitment to a specific job, or even a specific industry.
If you’re considering pursuing a career as an educator and are looking into the online EdD curriculum and instruction, you might feel a commitment to becoming a teacher. But it can also lead to a career in administration for a university, working as a training and development manager for a business that isn’t even related to education, or owning your own business as a professional tutor, textbook author, or education consultant. The opportunities are nearly endless!
Most universities allow students to change degrees if needed, too, and many degrees share prerequisites and even course content with adjacent career paths. By approaching the process with an open mind, you will come to see the wide range of applications that most university degrees have, and the immense potential they will enable you to unlock within yourself.
Explore Your Interests and Passions
Choosing a degree begins with introspection. What drives you? What kind of schoolwork has made you feel truly engaged or even excited? How do you spend your free time? What do you find yourself drawn to spend time on or learn more about? Consider not just your high school coursework, but your extracurricular activities and personal interests, too. You can look to your hobbies, the types of music or movies you enjoy, or the people in your life that you admire and feel inspired by.
Selecting a degree that includes content and coursework that you find compelling is essential. If you find the coursework interesting, it will be easier for you to commit to the work and become proficient in the necessary skills. If you are more drawn to pastimes or school courses that don’t seem to suggest a career path at first glance, you may want to consider talking to your favorite teacher or someone older who shares your interests, to see what they suggest.
Understand Your Skills and Strengths
“Where your talents and the world’s needs cross, there lies your vocation.” This timeless quote, often attributed to Aristotle, is an excellent encapsulation of the process of embarking upon a career path. Whether it came from The First Teacher himself or not, it’s a truly powerful quote that may help you in your discernment process.
If you aren’t able to decide on a career path based on your interests, it may be better to instead look at your existing skills and strengths, and begin by pursuing a degree that develops them. While some people are fortunate enough to know what they want to do from a young age, for others, the process of building a career is longer and more involved, and may require experimentation.
By investing your degree in your strengths and following the paths that reward your investments of time and energy, you give yourself the best chance at finding a career path that you can succeed in. Even if this doesn’t result in immediate gratification, over time, you will find yourself enjoying the feeling of exercising your talents to their fullest potential, especially as you are rewarded for them!
Researching Your Career Path
It’s important to pursue your passion. It’s equally as important to remember that you may not wind up in the exact profession you choose right away, and that understanding your own abilities – and their limits – is an important part of finding a job and building a career path.
For example, if your passion is video games, and you choose to pursue a computer science degree to learn more about programming, you may discover at some point that your unique talents in these fields don’t necessarily align with building video games. Being comfortable with this process and being willing to let your talents guide your journey is a crucial part of building the career you want.
Video game development is one of the most complex and difficult varieties of computer programming, involving a deep understanding of multiple knowledge domains, including physics, object-oriented programming, and how complex systems like graphics cards and networking hardware work together.
To pursue this highly competitive career path, you may need to start by developing web-based applications or embedded systems. While this path might sound long and difficult, understanding the path you want to pursue and how your skills need to evolve is vital to achieving your goals.
Final Words
The process of deciding on a career is a long one. While deciding on a college degree path can feel like a pivotal moment that determines the course of the rest of your life, it’s important to remember that you will have many opportunities to explore different career paths even within one field of study, or even change your degree if needed. As long as you are working hard, exploring your passions and strengths, and keeping an open mind about the path to the job you want to have some day, you are sure to make progress!
