Desperately seeking advice

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I'm stuck. Everyone I know tells me that I am smart and talented enough to do any career I choose to do. But I have no idea what direction to head in! I don't know how to figure out a career or a direction that will suit me and I will like. I've tried everything; asking advice off parents and friends, online skills and jobs quizzes, university careers counselling, etc, and everything only seems to further my predicament. I seriously need to figure out which majors to choose for uni/whether to switch degrees in the next few days, and I'm stressed out of my brain because I have no idea what to do.

Does anyone have any advice?

Hmm, in order to give slightly decent advice, we'd need to know more about you. Things such as which classes you've taken that you like the best, what hobbies/activities you enjoy, ultimate college goals (Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD/MD), career goals (if any), etc.

Hmm ok I'm currently doing a Bachelor of Arts, got an Op2 (which is in the top 2/3% of the state) out of school so I think I could be capable of doing higher level degrees if I so chose. I'm pretty artistic, and into music, writing, art, drama, that sort of thing, but I also like to be academically challenged and am interested in psychology and maybe other things along those lines. I've realized that I've been pretty close minded about my interests my whole life, and always thought I didn't like maths/chem/physics/business/med/all those areas but just realized I don't really know hardly anything about them, so for all I know they could be right up my alley. Pretty much, I'm creative but I sometimes don't feel mentally challenged enough by purely creative subjects, and I'm also very ambitious and need to do something that has variety and has room for growth. Not so sure I'd be good at managing and that sort of thing though, although I think I have an aptitude for teaching. I like to be physically active too.

Um, yeah, I also want to find a career that I can support myself on (realistically - I'm realizing that I'm probably better off performing/doing art/creative writing in my spare time).

If you're really good at art and writing, a PhD in Psychology wouldn't be a bad choice. Not only is that an indication to your ability to understand how minds work, but on the writing side, you could become an author in the subjects of Psychology (big bucks there), both fiction and non-fiction (self-help books, anyone?)

If you're really good with music, you may be surprisingly good with math and logic-based sciences (Physics, Chemistry, and several disciplines of Engineering). A lot of people that are advanced when it comes to music (and in many cases, drawing/painting) don't often realize how good they are with these things until they actually try them, the ability to "see" the flow and rhythm of music tends to translate well into understanding how physical systems work. If you're really interested in this side, it can't hurt to take an introductory Physics or Chemistry class (you only need basic Algebra abilities for these), even if you just audit the class. Though this is only if you have the time/resources to pretty much start over again with your college education, since in order to obtain most Physics, Chemistry, or Engineering degrees, you need a minimum understanding of math of Differential Equations (the class you take after about a year of Calculus). And if you do this, don't worry about "starting over again", there are going to be plenty of people that do this (about a third of the people in my graduating class for my Bachelors of Science were over the age of 25).

I would suggest that a strong liberal arts program is the most useful way to spend your undergraduate studies. Most employers are more interested in whether or not you have completed a college degree program - not what kind of degree it is. I know very few people who are actually working in a career related to their degree. (Exceptions to this would be careers such as doctor or lawyer.)

In my own case, I got my degree in music education - then later took a technical studies course to be certified in computer drafting.

If you aren't sure what you want to do with your life - don't sweat it. You don't have to figure it all out right this minute. A strong liberal arts program will prepare you to make a more informed decision about what you want to do with your life at a later point. (And be sure to include some math & science courses - you never know when that information might come in handy.)

Good luck!! !

Thank you both, this is really really helpful and reassuring information! Just what I was looking for, actually. Thankyou so much, you have no idea how much this relieves the stress.

It's interesting what you say about music DNForrest, because I have always liked and been creative with music, but I have never been great at theory and the true technicalities of music (although I have been good, just like maths actually, got a low A for algebra and a similar type grade for university music - good but not amazing). Maybe maths physics, although I might be fairly good at it, is not my strongest point. At school I actually got my higher A grades in Biology (A6), English (A5), and Drama (A7) (which involves a fair bit of english). Maybe psychology is a good choice.

DNForrest, do you know much about psychology? I am considering finishing my Arts degree, and majoring in Psychology and Writing. There are several different streams of psychology and I was looking at choosing between Cognitive Neuroscience and Social and Developmental streams.

Now, I am torn between the two, because Cognitive neuroscience seems to like physical internal brain components with external effects, whereas social/developmental seems to just look at external happenings (and so sort of like understanding the consequences but not the causes, and thus a superficial understanding), however, social/developmental might be more relevant to different job areas than cognitive.

Would a psychology major be enough to cover the maths/science area? If I go with what I'm currently thinking, then I will have done two drama courses, a philosophy course, writing courses, psychology courses, and music courses.

I think it's more of just naturally understanding the music and why it works itself, not necessarily the technicalities. I wouldn't actually know these, specifically. Even though I was considered a music prodigy when I was younger, I chose a poor instrument initially (percussion), and eventually dropped my music studies altogether to advance myself in math and science (really wish I had started with the cello). So to me, it's less about studying the theory and technicalities (as is required by music majors) than it is to have a natural understanding of the subject. The same applies to me and mathematics/science. I almost failed one of my earlier math classes, simply because I understood the subject too well, and didn't felt any need to memorize the names of the proofs and theories required in order to pass the class.

Again, it can't hurt to try some of the basic science or math classes. You may end up like my sister, she was going to be an English/Art major because she had bad experiences with math classes she had taken earlier on, but when she took some of the entry-level college classes, she realized how good at it she actually was, so now she's going for her Bioengineering degree.

As for psychology, unfortunately I know very little, except that I'm horrible at the coursework. I'm capable of understanding how the human psyche works, I'm not easily capable of memorizing the psychological theories you're required to learn. It's from a bit of a bad habit of mine of never having to study for my other classes during that time period.

I would suggest that a well-rounded education includes an understanding of mathematics to (at least) include calculus - since that is useful to many fields (business, sociology, engineering, medicine - to name a few.) For "science," I suggest a survey course in modern physics (one that doesn't require prerequisites), to give you at least a glimpse of the nature of the universe - and probably a course in classical physics/mechanics to gain a better understanding of how your everyday world works.

I realize that time is limited, so you may only be able to fit in one of the three. I just wanted to point out that an education isn't truly complete if it doesn't include some "hard" disciplines.

Brain surgeon.
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