With so many different career pathways and fascinating subjects to study and explore, it’s no wonder that schools begin as early as elementary school to push children into thinking about their futures. Veterinarians, astronauts, ballerinas; most kids don’t end up going into their “dream” jobs. As fields expand and people gain more knowledge, new kinds of jobs emerge, many of which the majority of people don’t even realize exist. Young adults, when trying to decide what they want to do when they grow up (especially as they decide what they want to do in college), often feel disoriented and unsure as to what they want to do for a living.

This lost feeling doesn’t stem from unfounded worries – many careers, like medicine, essentially require one to dedicate their entire college education to the medical track. A lot of schools don’t offer classes that give an intro into these careers, so most of the time students dive into college with no prior experience at all. Not only does this deter students from choosing certain paths, but it prevents them from following a different career path that they may have enjoyed more. Most parents pressure their kids to pursue degrees in subjects that empirically give higher salaries. Of course, there’s nothing wrong in that, but there are so many other pathways out there that while they may not be the typical jobs that come to mind when people ask what would make them the most money, they could be much more attuned to what one actually wants to do.

Always research – you’d be surprised as to how much you don’t know about jobs. There are countless industries and fields of study one can go into, and all it takes is a little dedication to finding the pathway that you genuinely feel like you would enjoy spending the rest of your life doing. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to pick something and stick to it forever and start as soon as you get into college. Choosing a profession freshman year in college and staying with it can be difficult, which is why 80 percent of students change majors an average of 3 times. But even so, it’s easier for you (and your parents) if you have some sort of idea of what you are interested in. While dedicating the rest of your life to one job (a lot of people have a variety of jobs throughout their entire life) seems like a daunting task, selecting what you want to do does not have to be a one time, be-all-end-all for your career. There are plenty of opportunities to explore different avenues of study – college class variety gives the perfect opportunity to investigate multiple subject areas and ultimately discover one that you feel is right for you.

Colleges do look to see if their applicants have some sort of direction they know they want to go in, and sometimes students feel pressured to produce an answer to the question “What do you plan to do with your life?” While having a thought-out plan for the future and knowing your end goal minimizes stress over picking the “right” pathway to go into, this decision is understandably a difficult one to make. The market includes a huge number of jobs with incredibly variety, and a little research goes a long way in finding what you want to dedicate your life to doing. Ultimately, the pathway you choose should be based on what you think would allow you to express your strengths the most and what you feel would be the most enjoyable to you.