I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I think it is ridiculous that we, as a culture, expect 18 year olds to commit to a career path. Don’t get me wrong, I love college completely. I love to learn, read and write. However, I don’t think college is a fast track to complete job satisfaction and security. I think it is a place for you to discover your interests and strengths and where you can transition into adulthood.
At Nazareth, I never had a moment where I thought, “this SPECIFIC JOB is my FUTURE!!!” Instead, I had multiple moments where I thought, “this field COULD BE my future!” My liberal arts education gave me many ideas and possible options for the working world. But it never gave me one, narrow path I felt I must stay on
To explain a little bit more clearly, let me paraphrase one of my favorite professors: a college education is something that provides you with multiple tools. You can use these tools (mine are writing, research, analysis, editing and planning) and apply them to multiple areas or careers. Although I want to do something with professional writing after I graduate in May, I know I will also feel comfortable with a job in copyediting, technical writing, research, publishing, academia, producing or freelance writing.
I think that the late teen/early twenties are the best time to educate yourself and explore your interests and passions. But I don’t necessarily believe that you need to make a concrete decision about your entire life the day you declare your major. I am not one of those people who received a calling to a certain career. Some friends of mine have wanted to be educators, physical therapists, doctors or artists since birth. And guess what? That is still their plan. But for people like me, and possibly you, it is okay to be unsure of your exact future plans. I’ll be 22 in two weeks and still don’t know exactly what I want to be when I grow up. But I do know that my education has prepared me for many different ventures.
Written by Rachel Montpelier. Rachel is a senior at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. and is the editorial assistant at NextStepU.
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