Where did you find direction?

[skaught]

I'm sitting in the middle of my first year of general arts and science and i don't know what the fuck i want to do with life. how did you guys find your direction? i just have so many interests i find it hard to narrow it down. any advice?

[ClapClapSnap]

I'm sitting in the middle of my first year of general arts and science and i don't know what the fuck i want to do with life. how did you guys find your direction? i just have so many interests i find it hard to narrow it down. any advice?

i'm turning twenty this summer and i'm still lost if it makes you feel any better.

[needles & pins]

I'm not a good example since I've wanted to write since I first learned the alphabet - I'm a rare species. But there's nothing wrong with not knowing what you want to do. I would first ask yourself how important money will be to you in the future or if you're willing to take a cut in money to follow what you really love, whatever it is. The money thing could factor some things out. Also, if there's anything you want to do career wise that could be a side-job or hobby, then you can do that alongside whatever you chose, that way you wouldn't really have to give up something you enjoy.

[kidinthecorner]

I've been gearing myself towards an econ major, and finally declared, since my senior year of high school, so I don't know how much of a help I am, BUT

a lot of my friends are academic-wanderers, and they narrow it down by just taking a whole bunch of random shit and deciding what they DON'T like. It may be inefficient, but it works eventually. Just make sure you get your core requirements out of the way relatively quickly so you're not hanging onto them while you try to graduate on time.

And don't judge a major solely on it's into courses... they all suck.

[JunkBondTrader]

try some stuff out. I think i kind of got lucky. I wanted to kind of be an architect since around sophmore year, but I could feel myself losing interest all the way up to senior year, and I was kind of freaking out becasue I had applied to a lot of schools that had decent architecture programs (ie. Penn State, Univ of Illinois, and ITT). Luckily one day I found out one of my friends was flying planes at a local airport and I thought it sounded like the coolest thing ever. So he invited me to go up in the plane with him and I have never had a better time, it was incredible. From that day on I decided I wanted to be a pilot for the rest of my life. Though the money (at first) isnt the best, after you work your way up you can make a good living. And a good thing was that I applied to schools early, so now I had time to start applying schools with avaiton programs (ie Purdue, SIU, Embry Riddle, Dubuque, and Lewis). I decided on Purdue because it was decently close to my home but swtill a good 3 hour drive. I can also have major in Air Traffic Control by adding only 3 classes to my schedule (which can be taken as electives) sometime in my junior and senior year. So it works out pretty well.

Dont kick yourself though, its a hard thing to do when you are 18 and someone asks you what you want to do with your life.

[pinkjinx87]

I want to do something that deals with art. I'm not sure what exactly, but I know that my career has to be something that challenges and intrigues me. I think I knew that I wanted this type of career as I as sitting in art class. I just thought "Man, I love this".

[Stereo Mike]

I am yet to find direction, or purpose in my life.

However, i know i will in time.

[andrewlterry]

Well I've wanted to be a history teacher since sophomore year of high school. Lately though I've thinking more about extending into more field-work studying though. So basically you just need to ride things out and you'll know what you want to do.

[sleepygrlgreen]

hmm...i'm just as lost as anyone. this may not work for everbody, but i'm thinking of taking a bunch of different classes next semester just to see what i'd like (and would be good at) the most. this also is a nice way to fulfill any elective requirements your school has. it's worth it, if you're absolutely lost.

[Lueda Alia]

I always tell this to my boyfriend so I'm going to say it to you too: take a lot of different classes and see what you like the most. if you don't really feel "passionate" about any of them, there must still be one that you'll like more than the others. you may be surprised, so my advice is to just take different classes and see what suits you best.

[richter915]

when my mom said "become a doctor or else you're out of the family"

[Shatter590]

24 and still no direction.

just take a wide variety of classes until something hits you, but make sure you have a backup plan

[unwritten]

when my mom said "become a doctor or else you're out of the family"


lol, good ol parentals

[unwritten]

I'm 24, graduated with a bachelors in Marketing and I still don't know if I truly love it, let alone like it.

[Shatter590]

I'm 24, graduated with a bachelors in Marketing and I still don't know if I truly love it, let alone like it.
we could use someone like you at our label

[xllirikx]

Read a lot. My junior and senior year I read everything I could get my hands on. Stupid magazines, web forum, classic novels, plays, and so on. You'll find direction that way.

Best of luck,

Start with Ayn Rand, Sherwood Anderson, Immanuel Kant, and Graham Greene.