I agree with this as well. I was really interested in music and playing an instrument in high school and I was really, really good at it. I probably could have done some type of music performance type major. But I was also very good at math and science classes in high school. And while I would much rather play my instrument than solve a calculus problem, I "went for the money" and did engineering over music. I had a very good college experience and now I am sorting through multiple job opportunities with salaries that will be more than enough to support myself as I graduate next spring. Meanwhile, my two music major roommates are looking at grad school and seminary cause their job prospects are so low right now. It helps to "do what you love," but at the same time I think you need to find a career path that's in demand during this bad economy and will allow you to support yourself. Just my $.02 and all English majors (including my girlfriend) would strongly disagree.
How good is your background? FBI seems to like candidates that speak many languages.
Good with numbers + acting.... you could get into Loss Prevention. Numbers being audits, inventories, etc. Interviews, interrogation, and undercover work would go well with good acting skills.
What about working in the sports industry? Good with numbers, speaking languages, plus acting (which I assume includes great public speaking, interpersonal, all around communication, etc.) would mix into a career as a sports agent. You could go to school for Marketing with some language classes to hone your skills.
Actually, this sounds right up my alley. My mother actually does something similar to this, but I've never bothered talking to her about it. I just assumed that someone in this profession would earn very little, and I figured it could be a backup plan at some point. I'll have to read more about this.
Not to sound cocky, but I'm good at a lot of things (and bad at a lot of things, too), but I think my problem with making a decision comes from none of my interests really sticking out more than the others. Besides family and friends, the two things I enjoy most in my life are music and baseball. Unfortunately, there are very limited opportunities with music and baseball, and I just don't think I have the energy and talent to be what I really want to be. Even some of the most skilled people in the world never get.
I have a general interest for PoSci and sociology, but it's not something I want to build a career around for some reason. Certain parts of the fields interest me very much, but other parts don't interest me at all. I've been thinking about it, and I just don't think it's the field for me. I'll still read up on it, though, and make a more concrete decision later.
I interact well with people, but it's very easy for me if A.) they're strangers on the internet or B.) they're strangers that I will probably never see again. As for having coworkers, I get along with them, but I don't enjoy it. Generally speaking, though, I hate customers. I'm practically an expert at customer service, but I don't like it at all. Actually, I think you'd have to be crazy to enjoy it. As for business, I just don't like it.
Anyway, I wouldn't mind having an office at home. I spend most of my time with myself, and I usually avoid getting very personal with people.
Your information is particularly helpful, though, especially about colleges understanding that people mature and improve their performances. One way you helped, though, is that if I ever decide to do something that combines languages and something else, I at least know now that I'd make the languages side of it my focus.
I've briefly thought about computer science, and it sounds like something in which I could excel, but I don't know if it's exactly what I'm looking for. I'll definitely look into it, though, because certain fields that use computer science really interest me. I just wonder if I would ultimately have the brains for it.
My legal background is good--I've gotten tickets for various events, but I've never been caught with drugs or committed an act of violence or anything. However, my grades in high school and college were very up and down (anywhere from Honor Roll or Dean's List to nothing but Cs and Ds or incompletes).
Anyway, loss prevention really peaks my interest, actually. I'd be in heaven if I could work in sports in almost any capacity, but as for being an agent, if I were good at what I did, I would hate myself. As for marketing, that's something I want to learn more about, but I don't want to make a career out of it. I would love to put my creativity to use and come up with ideas for commercials, though.
Yeah, after I posted this I thought I might need to clarify what I meant. That was line of thought in high school but since I've done engineering in college I've found I really enjoy it as well. I do enjoy a lot of the analysis type problems as a whole, just not the calculus type junk you need to take before. I hated my first year of college where I had to take all straight calculus and physics type classes but I loved the last 3 years where I've taken classes in my major that combined different techniques from those early classes. I guess my point was maybe something that can give you a better career is something you might enjoy more than you think. I certainly could never put myself in a position for a career doing something I absolutely hated either, that just makes your life miserable.
Camisadelgolf,
I don't have any advice that trumps what's already been posted here but your situation does bring up a situation that happened to a family member.
She graduated from a good business school with a Bachelors in Accounting and then went to work at a major corporation in downtown Cincinnati. However after a few years she decided this wasn't working out for her. She was too much of a people person to be stuck at a desk crunching numbers all day and wasn't particularly enamoured with corporate politics either. At that point her parents paid for her to take one of those extensive tests designed to tell what you'd be good at.
To make a long story short she decided to go to Travel Agent School
(3 month program). Shortly thereafter she began work at a nice travel agency and she is much happier.
Now let's look at the realities of this situation. Unfortunately we all have to consider the real world implications of our decisions. Bear in mind this was 20 years ago so the figures I'm going tp throw out are not current.
She left her accounting job paying her $25K/yr and took a Travel Agent job which paid $9K. Chucked her college degree and everything. This is where my sexism comes into play but as folks know, I give my opinions around here whether they're politically correct or not. I give you this also not knowing what sex you are.
It is my opinion that she never could have "politically" made that decision in the name of her happiness if she'd been male. I can't see her parents endorsing such a move had they put their "son" through an out of state 4 yr college only to have him throw away his corporate career in lieu of $9K/yr. For whatever it's worth, she agrees with me on this.
So you're not the only one who has issues with accounting as a career. You're still very young and have time to explore other possibilities. My final point is if you find a career that both pays you well and you enjoy, then you are one of the lucky ones.
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