If you could choose...

I am a college student and am struggling with something everyone goes through---WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE?!?! Uuuuyyy... So, this is a thread for those of you who know and could offer some friendly advice. I would follow my dream to do something with music, but with the economy collapsing that wouldn't be the most stable decision.

What did you want to be when you grew up? What are you doing now? How did you decide?

Hmm... come to think of it, you should probably stick with college, just to have a degree. It can't hurt.

Well yeah... I'm going next semester. But, as far as majoring in something goes, I wish I knew what to do. Ya know?

Another hint or two towards your interests and talents might help.

Me? When I was very young, I wanted to be a writer. As a teenager, I wanted to be a mathematician. Eventually, I grew up to become a literary theorist, which kind of combines both interests nicely -- but what I really love about the job is teaching, and that wasn't orginally in either of my dreams.

Hey, writing that down just reminded me how lucky I am. I forget. Thanks.

Well... I play piano and compose music. I thought about becoming a songwriter, but I think I would be better suited writing film scores. I don't have alot of experience in any given field, and I've only been playing piano for about 6 years (Though I compose quality music). I don't know how to go about getting into a career doing that sort of stuff, and although it is what I LOVE to do I don't know how far it will get me. So, that is my predicament. My current major is music business, but from what I hear the money is about the same as if you didn't go to college. I'm really unsure what I should do with my life.

I'm a psych major in college, and I'm still waiting to grow up, lol.

I wish I could help....my son is in about the same boat as you, except he has no academic skills or talent or ambition,so college would kick his butt, since he's barely making it in High School. It seems to be genetic. He should have picked better parents!

Anyway, if you can afford it, get your degree. Once you achieve that, nobody can take that away from you!

Not to be in any sense discouraging, but remember that breaking into fields like composing musical scores for movie or stage is very difficult. Not saying it can't be done, just be prepared to be dogged and relentless in your pursuit of it if that's the direction you want to go.

I wanted to draw comic books for a living. Between graduating high school and enlisting in the Navy, I was spending hours at my drawing board every day and was on my way to being Keith Pollard. My plan was to use my military educational benefits to get a commercial art degree when my enlistment was up.

However, while in uniform I spent a lot of time around the civilian "tech reps" . . . contractors from the various companies supporting the project I worked under . . . and wound up working for one of them after I got out of the Navy. This was the mid-80's and the Defense Department was spending money like it was water. I worked about eight years as a tech rep myself, earning LOTS of money. Drawing comics receded into the distance as I concentrated on my career. Now it's twenty years later and I've followed opportunities as they've arisen. Did eight years as a statistical analyst, eleven years as a graphic artist, and now about seven years as a web designer.

So have a plan, but be prepared to seize the opportunities that will present themselves.

Expounding on what Lanzman just said.... many people have a plan (or dream, or goal) but end up drifting into other things, when push comes to shove.

Now here's the funny part - sometimes what we think is a bad situation actually turns out to be a great opportunity!

In summary, there are no "bad" decisions or "bad" choices. Success runs on it's own schedule, not yours. So, just do your best at whatever you are doing at the time, and your work ethic will pay off over time.

I wanted to work in radio as an on-air announcer.....would still love to do so but automation has killed that except for a very few privileged folks.

When I started college I decided to go with what everyone said was the money career - computers - then I was recruited into the Navy's Nuke program (even more $$$) and then - then they discovered my eyes were not good enough for that and sent me home.

I did not go back to college for 17 years after that for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, I can't really contribute much except to say this - if you hate what you do, they can't pay you enough to do it, if you love what you do, how much money you have isn't that important.

When you consider your options, try to imagine getting up and going to do that thing every day for the next 20 years and see how that makes you feel.

When I did go back to college I got a teaching degree because I wanted the "intangibles" that came from the relationships that were cultivated in that job...I hated, LOATHED, the jobs I had been doing since I came home from the Navy and i told my wife that if I did not find a job I could look forward to doing I would go insane.

Paul Harvey said it best: "Do something you love for a living and you will never work a day in your life."

Whatever happened to Paul Harvey? I used to listen to him 20 years ago, working construction.....a job that still gives me nightmares!

I joined the Army so I could have a safer, easier job.
Sounds ironic, but darned if I wasn't right. Even during combat, it's easier than hard labor in Phoenix Arizona in the summer!

Actually, military service isn't a bad idea. If you're not able to decide, it's a good way to serve your country, make some cash for later, and have some time to experience the world and think about what you want to do.

I thought you were majoring in religion? I thought about psychology... but it doesn't really help if I end up crying with the patient. Haha!

uh oh......Henry, Aurora, and a few others will be all over you like white on rice! BTW, time to polish my jackboots and sort my bullets!

I'm gonna be 51 soon and I'm still trying to figure out what I wanna do.

Dental School. Specialize in orthodontics.

Haven't read the whole thing, but if I understand the situation, I suggest something I tried to do but couldn't:

Go ahead and get your music degree, but minor in business (or marketing or economics) (or double major). If you pursue a career in music, you will know how to promote yourself and handle money and such. Or you may be able to manage someone or run a music store or some other music-related thing.

(I wasn't able to do this because I went to a little dinky school that didn't have a business minor. And I didn't figure this out until I was a junior. So I couldn't get the classes I needed for my individually designed minor because they were only offered every other year.)

I decided that religious studies would turn out self-defeating for a number of reasons, and Psych lets me mess with people's heads guilt-free and in the name of research.

Joining the military doesn't necessarily signal that you're "for" the war. It does mean that you'd be willing to fight there (and anywhere else) if called on by your country.

Along these lines, though, there are other ways to do public service without joining the military. You won't come out with the benefits but you will be doing something positive while getting a chance to experience the world while you're making a decision.

While it's difficult to break into movie scores, TV productions are less remote from what I hear. Does the school where you're getting your major have an alumni organisation? If so, contact some people that already arrived where you want to be and ask for their advice. If not, ask your profs, or just apply at (smallish) studios.

A passage by one of my favorite authors:

When I was in college I didn't really know what I wanted to do when I got out, either. When I graduated I still didn't know. I at least knew what I didn't want to do. I ended up getting a great job soon after college anyway.

I took a lot of different classes and did a double-major and a minor. I sought a good, well-rounded education, and it has paid off: a lot of companies (especially IT companies) in the U.S. will hire kids right out of college, who don't have much to put down on their resumes yet but who have shown that they will work hard and get good grades. Lots of older folks will tell you that college grades don't matter much, at least not as much as high school grades do to college admissions, but I don't think that's so true these days. It's an increasingly competitive world for us young people. My own company gets some 200-300+ applications a day, but only hires about 20-50 new people a month, and one of the criteria they use to sort through so many people is college grades. Standardized test scores as well. I suggest you keep up good grades (but not by taking only easy classes) and try to be well-rounded so that you can be in a better position to handle all kinds of challenges and easily learn all kinds of new things.

Also, another thing I heard non-stop when I was in college and talking about my majors was that I couldn't do much with that major without going to grad school, and that I should be thinking about grad school. They will tell you this for absolutely every major out there: chemistry, history, engineering, philosophy, physics, psychology, literature, classics - you name it, you have to go to school even longer. I have found this not to be the case, and thank God because I was sick of school by the time I graduated.

At least, it's not the case yet that you don't need grad school to get a decent job, but who knows - our parents' generation was mostly fine with just a high school diploma, but now most people need a bachelor's to get a comfortable job. Maybe that'll be different in a few years.

Yeah, it's nice. But keep in mind the price tag.

My running total amount of debt (w/o interest): $$232,000


And the absolute years of hell you're paying for. Many people don't know this, but dental school is actually much more demanding and difficult than medical school.

You'll learn the same basic stuff but then you'll have to have excellent hand skills on top of that. You'll spend time studying. But you'll also spend countless hours in lab. You'll have to deal with scheduling and seeing your own patients.

You'll work like the Devil himself was yer slave driver!

Other than all that, it's peachy.

A good college student has 3 priorities. Stay eligible for the following semester, have tons of sex, and get dangerously intoxicated for every special occasion (i.e. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and sometimes 2 dollar you-call-it's on Mondays).

I'm a music major as well.

But I'm doing a double major in Commercial Music(the business end) and Sound Engineering(the recording end) with a minor in Photography(cause it's so pretty!).

I'm not going in the same direction you are obviously, but it helps to have the business end, or so I hear. Because, even if you don't get the job at the studio playing the interludes in a TV Drama, you can still fall back on business and still stay in music.

At least, that's what I'm shooting for. XD

Another music major here (music education, but in California, that's a career which is as shakey as the San Andreas fault). Although I've been considering going another route the past few weeks, I wouldn't rule out a potential career just because of the economy. It goes up and down, but your career is something you'll be practicing for decades. I wouldn't go into something just for the money.

Thank you guys for all of your advice! It has really been helpful. I think that overall if you are focused in something that helps you grow (that you love to do), then that will help you to further develop in other aspects of your career and life. If you are happy and take pride in what you are doing, then the money doesn't matter so much...

Money only really matters if you end up on the street because you can't make RENT!

Robert A. Heinlein