i'm having a kind of identity crisis with my major in college. i'm currently set up for an accounting major. my parents suggested it because they thought i'd be good at it. they didnt mean to push it on me, but they may have more than they wanted to. its a very stable major to go in to and leads to jobs that stay reliable even during recessions. its practical and useful and i know i'll be successful with an accounting major. the problem is, i can't figure out if i actually like it or not. i mean, i like the practicality of it and the direct application, but i don't know if i can see myself working a desk job and filling out spreadsheets paperwork. let's not pretend i know every aspect of the job, but i can't think of anything else i'd do besides paperwork and calculations of whatever, then presentations trying to convince critical people of ideas. my other problem is i am absolutely petrified of uncertainty. i've never had to worry about money issues because my parents have always made enough, because they both went into business, specifically accounting. any other major right now seems like leaping off a cliff hoping that my backpack turns into a parachute. i have no idea what would happen and i have no clue if i could do it. not to mention my school is on the expensive side and if i don't make money after graduating i'll never get out of debt. and finally, changing majors would mean that my first year and a half of college, which translates to about $78,000 tuition, was basically wasted because i was already so geared towards the business major. the other major i was considering is a psychology major. every personality quiz i've taken says i would enjoy and be good as a social worker, and i have a knack for psychology. and i really do find it interesting, and i do like to help people. i just don't know if i could make ends meat, or if the job market will let me in after i graduate. i guess my first step should be talking to my parents about it. i know they'll support whatever i want to do--and my dad almost did psychology. but i think i need some perspective on the situation. if i do switch majors, it will likely be the single biggest change i've implemented in my own life. and i think it would be good for me. i just don't know if i have the courage to take the leap.
I changed my mind on what I wanted to be almost two years ago now, and had to tell my mom. Getting up the courage was the hardest part. You just kinda have to take the leap. Changing majors is probably the easiest thing to do while you're in college. Its a lot easier than getting a degree, working in that field for years, then realizing that it wasn't really what you wanted to do and going back to school to get ANOTHER degree. Another thing I did was transferred schools for a whole bunch of reasons. The first being because of the way my first school was structured, I'd basically have to re-apply to the college because I wanted to change from their school of Science, to their school of business, even though I'd still be going to the same university. Secondly, the loans were literally eating away at me. I'd stay up late worrying about how I'd end up paying back the loans. So I transferred to a state school. And while I despise the SUNY (State University of New York) School system, it is considerably cheaper. I went from about 40k a year to 4k. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.
well, the tuition thing may not be as big of a problem as i'm imagining. my parents supplement my tuition that isnt paid by scholarships, and i have money set aside for the next 2 years of housing. so my debt is only what i've already incurred. and technically i havent declared business as my major yet, but even so, its pretty easy to change majors at my school. i may be making this a bigger deal than it needs to be... its just scary setting my life in a completely new direction without guidance for the first time ever.
I've been going through the same exact thing. I had pushed it to the back of my mind, but we have to register for Spring Semester classes in two weeks so I have had to start dealing with it. I started this year as an architecture major, and have (after a couple of weeks dealing with a ridiculous amount of stress) already changed my major. Telling my parents I was switching majors was nearly as hard as coming out to them. Possibly harder, because I thought they would be pissed (if they were, they didn't show it). Right now I'm leaning toward being a Psych major...but I really don't know. And my mom isn't helping by trying to force me into making a decision. I just honestly don't know at all at this point. At the same time, I know I need to. I happen to go to the public school whose tuition has increased at a higher rate than any other school in the US over the past decade. With the planned 6.5% increase for next year (thanks for finding a way to not pass all the costs of the budget cuts onto the students President Geoffroy:dry it isn't worth piling up thousands in debt for nothing. I've always been the type who likes things to be planned out and organized. Not knowing what I should do or how this will end up is the most terrifying thing in the world to me.
If all the personality quizzes you've taken point you in the direction of some sort of social services career, if you find that you like helping people and that you are interested in it and enjoy it, then I think you've probably already answered your own question. Social services such as psychology and social work are about as far from accounting as you can get; accountants typically do not have a lot of interaction with people and people who choose that career are typically the types who don't enjoy interaction with people as much. I am a very strong believer that your career should be something that is meaningful to you and that you will enjoy doing, but I don't think your initial schooling is wasted, particularly if you go into social work; you may find yourself eventually in a position of doing program development or grantwriting in addition to direct services to individuals and having the business background will put you way ahead of many others in your field. Additionally, social workers are pretty high up the food chain in terms of employability; many of them work in individual settings providing therapy and counseling services to individuals, while others are employed helping displaced workers find new careers and providing other social services, so there are a variety of options for employment in a variety of settings. Psychologists have similar options, and a recent change to Federal law will mandate better medical insurance for psychotherapy, so career prospects should also be good. BTW, a good friend of mine who also posts occasionally here, BlairSW, is completing his bachelors in social work next semester and starting on a masters program. He's worked in a number of different settings in the social work and counseling areas and might be able to tell you firsthand about it. He also switched to social work from another major. If you would like to speak with him (he's not yet a full member) I can arrange to get you in touch if you PM me.
I don't have much more to add other than accounting isn't necessarily as boring as it sounds. My mother is an accountant for the government and gets to travel around Europe a lot and go some pretty amazing places. But I guess most accountants don't really get to do that. I think you should definitely reconsider your major if you don't really enjoy what you're doing now.
Let me wade in here and offer some advice... I'm an accountant. It's not all that boring, but I have to admit that I've always had a mind for numbers. From a very early age I wanted to go into business. I didn't have any other aspirations - so there wasn't really ever any questioning on my part. I interact with other people on a daily basis. I manage a group of 20 people (3 direct reports and the rest their subordinates). I interact with my boss and her boss. I interact with my peers - both in accounting and finace as well as in the operations area of the business. My role is FAR from solitary. Am I helping people? Well, to some extent from a coaching and career development perspective. But I have to admit that I get my 'helping people' fix by coming here to EC. Does a finance or accounting career lend itself to other things? Yes. Can it lead to senior management roles that are broader than just finance or accounting? Absolutely! Are the skills necessary and needed in the not-for-profit organizations of the world? Desperately. Which is another way that I 'help people' - by donating my time. If you're having doubts though, you really should think hard though. A degree in psychology can lead to all kinds of great things too. My sister got a bachelor of science in psychology and then got her maters degree in speach and language pathology - and now she works in a well respected rehabilitation center here in Toronto and she enjoys her work very much. The other thing I'll say is that the career you pick now won't necessarily be the career that you'll have for the rest of your life. Gone are the days when you would leave school, get a job, and work for that company until you retire. Not only do people work for several companies, but they have more than one career in their lifetime. Are the transitions always easy? I don't know. Probably not. But don't put too much weight or importance on the decisions you make now. The reality is that life changes all the time - and the decisions made today with the best information available aren't always the ones you'd make tomorrow with the benefit of hindsight. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more.
I completely understand what you are going through, having radically changed my major while in college. All of the posters above make very good points. Please keep in mind that no matter how much money you make, if you are unhappy in what you are doing, the money will be meaningless. I have known too many people who went into lucrative careers, only to wind up hating their lives, no matter how much money they had. There is a great phrase that I really believe: “do what you like and the money will come.” I think there is a lot of merit to that line. If you like your career and are enthusiastic about it, you will do a better job. If you do a good job, the money will come. Along the way, you will also likely find opportunities to branch off from your original career path to related fields. Although it is possible to change careers after you get started, it becomes much harder later in life. Perhaps you should take some courses in psychology or social work. Talk to people who work in those fields to find put the pros and cons of those professions. Take a little time to explore before you make this decision. Try to get an externship/internship. That is one of the great things about college; you have the opportunity to try out different fields.
Hi there! I don't have anything to add, but why not take the results of your personalty quiz and talk to a career counselor at your college. You already have a few ideas as to what you would like to do. Try to get a bit more information on the choices that you have. The more information you have the better a decision you can make.
wow i wish when i took a personality quiz, the results would point me in a certain direction! i always get equally high scores on logical/mathematical, visual/spacial, and social/helping people. and now im in a bit of a fix and have no idea what to do.
Do what makes you happy. Don't do what i did and complete 4 years of a combined engineering degree before realising that you hate it.
thanks all. i talked to my dad about it and he's pretty convinced that i won't be able to make a living as a psychology major because there just arent enough paying jobs in the field. if i'm going to change my major i'm going to have to do a lot of research to that end to convince myself and him that it would be alright. for now i may pick it up as a minor just in case i do switch later. but i'm going to have to talk to anyone that i can about it. including psych graduates and accounting graduates. plus counselors and teachers.
Getting a minor in one of those fields would be a great option. I have to agree with what Pseudojim and s5m1 said that you really have to at least like what you do or you will come to regret it. It is quite possible that by the time you graduate, there will be more jobs available in psychology or social work. It is very hard to predict what could happen or what might be available, so I would advise you to think more about what you want to do than how much money you want to make. I would also suggest finding someone you can talk to who isn't paying for your education or judging you for your decisions, just to bounce your ideas off of him/her and see what direction that takes you. Good luck with your decision! (*hug*)
