I committed to Bentley University at 17, when I was sure that I wanted to pursue a career in Economics. After I finished my freshman year, I decided I wanted to take advantage of the great finance program at Bentley and changed my major to Economics-Finance. And then, in the middle of my junior year, I added business law as a second major. I had always been interested in law school, but was unsure if it was something I could actually commit to doing, so with extra space in my schedule I added a business law major (just in case). Now, it’s the end of my junior year and it’s fair to say that I am having a bit of a career crisis.
After a year long operations internship with a private equity company, I’ve found that the corporate world is not it’s all cracked out to be. Sitting in a cubicle from 9-5 with my air pods in, I find myself wanting something more. But I’m at a business school… that’s what my degree is setting me up for, right? Naturally, I turn to my interest in law as an alternative to a career in finance. But again, I’m at Bentley. My business law degree is meant to prepare me for a career in corporate law, right?
This back and forth has been going on in my head for months. One the one hand, I am beyond fortunate to be at such a great university. Bentley has the #1 ranked career services center in the country; yet I find myself clueless about my future. I find myself thinking it’s a “me” problem. But on the other hand, I know that I won’t be completely fulfilled if I continue on this career trajectory. This is a hard thing to admit, especially at a school where most people’s definition of success is determined by how much money they can make. And coming to school, I most definitely fell victim to that way of thinking. But over time, I’ve realized there’s so much more to success than a paycheck.
My version of success looks like having an impact. Engaging with people, learning their stories, and helping them using what I know. And maybe I don’t know exactly what I’m going to be helping them with yet. Maybe it’ll be their finances, or it could be their legal troubles. Hell, it could even be something totally different. Whatever it is, I know that I want to help people.
When picking a career path as 18-year-olds, we are expected to have our entire lives planned out. But realistically speaking, we will never have our lives 100% figured out. As my mom always says, “I’m 50 years old and I still have no clue what I’m doing.” So, if you find yourself in the position that I am in right now, and like thousands of other college students are in, just take it one step at a time. Life has a funny way of working out…just make the decisions that feel right to you and let everything else take its course.