{"id":32140,"date":"2015-08-03T22:09:45","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T19:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acakuwait.wpengine.com\/?p=32140"},"modified":"2020-06-23T17:27:19","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T14:27:19","slug":"four-steps-to-choosing-your-major","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acakuw.com\/?p=32140","title":{"rendered":"Four Steps to Choosing Your Major"},"content":{"rendered":"

 \"\"<\/a> Academia | New York timesWhat will you be doing on this date 20 years from now? No, really. Try to answer that. Given what you know about your ever-changing self, and factoring in the breakneck pace of societal change, can you accurately predict what the future world around you will look like and what role you\u2019ll play in it?Grave warnings from parents, advisers and the news media suggest that whatever major you choose will dictate where you end up. Suddenly, you\u2019re not just choosing a major, you\u2019re choosing your ultimate fate.What I wish I\u2019d known in college is that most people\u2019s work shape-shifts in unforeseeable ways. I\u2019ve learned this not just from statistics, but from sitting down with thousands of people in candid conversations about work, life and what it takes to forge something that matters to you. It started after college when I realized I didn\u2019t have enough knowledge to decide what to do with my life.Two friends were equally lost, so we started on a road trip of self-discovery, seeking out people who had found something they loved and asking them how they\u2019d done it. That trip turned intoRoadtrip Nation, a career exploration organization that produces, among other things, a curriculum for middle and high school students and a long-running public television series about finding meaningful work.After 15 years of talking to everyone from C.E.O.s to camel ranchers, what we\u2019ve learned is comforting: Most people are unsure when they\u2019re starting out. Where they end up isn\u2019t a direct result of their major; it\u2019s the result of a meandering process. Their major \u2014 whether they stuck with it or applied it in new ways \u2014 was the start of channeling their interests, values and skills into work that made the struggles and hard work it took to get there worth it. Here are steps to help you do the same.1. Separate your goals from other people\u2019s goals for you.How do you quiet the noise that\u2019s coming at you from family, friends and society? Parents suggesting you should be a lawyer, policy makers defining \u201csuccess\u201d in terms of paychecks, even the voice inside your head saying you\u2019re not smart enough.For the Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater, the noise said that the arts wouldn\u2019t lead anywhere. Friends and family \u2014 people he respected \u2014 told him to go to medical or law school. But Mr. Linklater suggests you consider where these people are coming from. \u201cDo they really want you to be a doctor? Do they really want you to be a lawyer?\u201d he wondered. \u201cNo, it just sounds good.\u201d Instead he realized: \u201cI don\u2019t want to live like them, you know? I don\u2019t want their life. I remember just sitting there going, \u2018O.K., I\u2019m going to reject the advice and do the complete, polar, 180-degree opposite of what everyone is telling me to do.\u2019\u2009\u201dDropping out of Sam Houston State University after sophomore year, he took a job on an oil rig. He used his savings to buy equipment and take film classes at a community college. The auteur of \u201cBoyhood\u201d indeed defied the expectations of people at home.2. Forget passion; follow an interest.Most advice about majors includes the admonition \u201cFollow your passion.\u201d But passion is something you discover over time, by finding an interest, however small, and nurturing it. There\u2019s no epiphany; it\u2019s a collection of small decisions that move you step by tiny step.Adam Steltzner, an engineer with NASA\u2019sJet Propulsion Laboratory, barely made it out of high school, dropped out of music school and was playing in rock bands as restlessness crept in. \u201cI had actually started to notice that when I would return home from playing a show at night, the stars were in a different place in the sky. I was thinking, \u2018Whoa, they\u2019re moving. Why do they move?\u2019\u2009\u201d That moment would have passed by without changing anything in his life except that he went to sign up for an astronomy class at a community college and was told he had to take a physics prerequisite. This started him on the path to a degree in engineering mechanics, to getting his Ph.D., to landing the Curiosityrover on Mars.He wasn\u2019t chasing engineering because it would get him a steady job. When he felt that little tug of curiosity, he followed it. \u201cSurrender to the process,\u201d he advised, \u201crather than the goal.\u201d3. Put your decisions in real-world context.Whether you\u2019re attracted to something because of its promise of prosperity or because it stirs you on a deep level \u2014 neither inherently right or wrong \u2014 experts warn: Determine whether expectations match reality.Veronica Belmont, a Web and TV host, producer and writer (Twitter followers: 1.75 million), advises this: \u201cIf you\u2019re really passionate about a topic, and you want to work in that field, you should already be doing it.\u201d Now more than ever, you can glimpse the inner workings of industries. Follow someone on Twitter to gain insight into a field, read industry publications to track trends, or watch free online lectures.If your interest is piqued, go for full immersion with an internship. Ms. Belmont started out studying audio production at Emerson College in Boston and added new media studies as she became more interested in Internet culture. An audio production internship at CNET clinched her interest in tech.The important thing here, Ms. Belmont suggests, is not to master something but to test before you invest years of education and time.4. Yes, you do have to be good at it. Be flexible.Dips in the job market, failing at a venture you wanted to succeed in badly, or just realizing that something isn\u2019t as envisioned \u2014 these realities will force you to bend, contort or even redesign your ideal.Jad Abumrad\u2019s carefully planned vision came undone when he realized he wasn\u2019t suited for the job he thought his major pointed toward. He had studied music composition and creative writing at Oberlin College and Conservatory, intending to score films. \u201cThat didn\u2019t really work out. I just wasn\u2019t very good at it. And so, at a certain point, I just gave it up. I thought my plan was wrong.\u201dHe was ready to start from scratch when his girlfriend reasoned that he didn\u2019t have to abandon what he\u2019d worked toward. \u201cShe made the suggestion, \u2018You kind of like to write. You kind of like to make music. You\u2019re not really good at either on their own terms, but maybe you could somehow find the middle ground. Try out radio.\u2019\u2009\u201dIt wasn\u2019t a seamless transition \u2014 he began by working for free \u2014 but he stuck it out, creating a style of radio that fuses science and storytelling with music and sound. As a producer and host of WNYC\u2019s \u201cRadiolab,\u201dhis job is eerily close to what he originally imagined for himself, scoring films; he just had to stretch his thinking to get there.It\u2019s that kind of flexible mentality that our interview subjects point to, time after time. A major isn\u2019t a lifelong sentence; it\u2019s a jumping-off point. You\u2019ll still stumble and have to recalibrate. But if you live life by connecting each successive dot, you open yourself up to possibilities you never could have planned.<\/p>\n