It feels like the culture around college has shifted dramatically within the last decade. You used to study what you were interested in, graduate, and then get a job in a field related to your degree. Pretty straightforward.
Now, if you don’t do at least three different internships, serve on the executive board of multiple clubs, and cure cancer, all while studying the most prestigious major your school offers, people will act like you’ll be unemployed forever.
It’s hard to feel like you’re setting yourself up for success when half of society is telling you to enjoy your twenties and live your best life, while the other half tells you that “the major you’re studying is useless and the economy sucks right now, so you might as well drop out and start your own business.”
The graduation anxiety around what happens after undergrad can sometimes overshadow what are supposed to be the ‘best years of your life,’ and that can be a little disheartening, so I’ve come up with a few ideas to help alleviate some of that stress.
- Look Into Career Counseling
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The best way to stop worrying about what you’re going to do with your major or wondering if the field you’re interested in is even hiring is to get some unbiased help, because your parents and friends can only assist you so much.
Plenty of colleges offer career counseling services; however, not all of them are super great at helping you decide on a specific life path; their strengths lie more in interview prep and internship searches. I recently went down the all-too-common “what am I going to do with my life” spiral, and what actually helped me was hiring someone outside of my university.
My coach, Betsy Jewel, supplied me with a quote about her program:
“Through my Career Discovery Coaching program, I help college students and young adults better understand their strengths, interests, natural abilities, and values. Together, we explore potential career directions and develop a practical action plan. My goal isn’t to tell students what they should do with their lives, but to help them gain the clarity and confidence to make those decisions for themselves.”
While you don’t have to go through the same process that I did, I think getting advice from a professional is more useful than looking up ‘best majors for making money’ on TikTok. But hey, that’s just my opinion. Not to mention, the relief you feel when you have a more concrete idea of what you want for your life is immeasurable.
- Don’t Be Afraid to Switch Your Major
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It’s honestly super unfair that most of the time you have to pick a career path at 17 years old, sure you may have a knack for a certain subject or think you know what you want to be when you grow up, but it’s very rare to have your whole life figured out before you can legally vote.
If you wake up one day and discover your passions lie in a completely different area than you initially thought, don’t feel ashamed to pivot. That’s assuming you have enough time and credits to do so. This goes for master’s programs as well; plenty of people get a master’s degree in something completely different than their bachelor’s.
Changing your major is way more common than you might think, and it’s no reason to feel embarrassed. You will regret studying something you’re not passionate about way more in the long run. If you work with a career coach or do your own research and find out that what you’re studying doesn’t lead you to the life you thought it might, don’t be afraid to make a change.
- Remember, Degrees Are Not Binding
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If you went into college with a certain idea of what you wanted to get out of your major and somewhere along the way figured out that it wasn’t for you, don’t panic. If what you’re studying is still something you are good at, try to find other paths that align with it.
I’m going to include another quote from my coach because I think it sums up this idea perfectly.
“One of the biggest misconceptions I see among college students is that they’re supposed to have their future figured out by graduation. They’re not. Your twenties are a time to explore, experiment, make mistakes, and discover what matters to you. You don’t need to know exactly where you’re going. You just need to be willing to take the next step.”
A degree is not a life sentence; you can make it into whatever you want. Just because you don’t use your degree for what you initially got it for doesn’t mean you failed.
- Make Connections
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I’m sure you’ve been scolded on the importance of networking at least once within the past month, assuming you’re a student. And while, yes, making connections helps you meet employers who can get you jobs, there is also another benefit to talking with people in fields you’re interested in.
When talking to professionals who work in areas you are curious about, ask them about their everyday life and what they honestly think of the role they’re in. Networking is largely about discovering what you do and don’t want to do.
Meetings like this can help you narrow down your hunt for the perfect career path and eliminate some uncertainty about your future
While you don’t have to know exactly what the next 10 years of your life will look like, researching not only what types of jobs you can get with your major but also what types of jobs you would even enjoy can definitely take away some of the fear surrounding a post-grad future.
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