As summer comes to an end, another school year begins to make its entrance. This time around is Junior year for me, which, in many ways it seems, is quite formidable. As a business student, Junior year is the time to narrow down selections for one’s first field of employment. The lax and explorative nature of freshmen and sophomore years is long gone, and it is time to make some uncomfortably impactful decisions. The question “what do you want to do when you graduate”, has become less of a general inquisition into one’s interests and likes and more of a question that should yield a specific response. I am among the unfortunate group of students who still has not completely narrowed down my prospective career options to one or two choices. As a Finance major this is somewhat unusual, as most of my peers have already made their selections, or are close to them. This, in turn, has caused me to have some anxiety. Call me indecisive or too picky, but two years of being at Penn State and personal exploration have not sufficed in solidifying which potential career paths suit my interests.
This missing piece of what feels like will be apart of my identity, has got me thinking. Do we put too much pressure on students, as an academic and professional society, to identify a major and a career with the resources available to them? Of course students are an essential component of that decision, but should there be some sort of assistance in making such a critical choice?
Opponents of this ideology may point to fate, and not without reason. There are dozens of affluent and successful people who seemed to have been shuffled into their respective fields by God, the universe, or whichever supernatural force suits you. Many everyday professions will echo this belief by saying something along the lines of “if you told me I would be doing *insert career here* when I graduated college, I would have told you, ‘you’re crazy’”. So perhaps I should not be as antsy about myself making this choice, as much as I should be waiting for things to “fall into place”.
So here lies a tug-of-war of sorts between being proactive in investigating potential careers based on your self-interests and allow fate to step in and guide you toward the future. The optimized route to proper career-selection probably lies between these two. I just hope my career path becomes clearer in the near future.
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