Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jess Levens on December 18, 2012 at 9:18am

Try majoring in hard work with a minor in humility. It will do wonders for your career.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Matt on December 18, 2012 at 9:33am

+1

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Will on December 18, 2012 at 9:35am

Do something you love and can be paid well for.  You can research, via your college's career development center, who makes good money.  You can research what you love (to some degree) by taking classes in different areas to see what you like.  The "to some degree" is about those majors in which classroom and work are significantly different -- for example, education, in which education majors sometimes get to their student teaching and realize they hate it.  Also, there are careers that don't directly relate to any major.  But there are others that do.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Matt on December 18, 2012 at 9:36am

Look into doing something you enjoy for a living.

"Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life"  - Confucius

 

Trick is though, just make sure you live within your means as well.

A single person doesn't honestly need much in order to live a happy life.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daniel Paul Carter on December 18, 2012 at 9:41am

I know I need to do something I love. My family has always been passionate about giving their children the freedom to do whatever they enjoy, but I'm at a crossroads in my life.

I've been studying the arts. Whether that be liberal arts or visual arts, and now I am a Junior and I feel as if there is no true future in these fields. While they will always remain a hobby or passion of mine, I just have a hard time believing that the injury of a career as a writer or photographer is truly the path I should be taking through college.

It was always in my mind that I could possibly end up doing advertisement or marketing, but even these fields require a more strict workload considering I probably will not be able to get into graduate school.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David F. on December 18, 2012 at 9:45am

First separate the idea that money = happiness.  It has been shown that after the basics are covered financially you get a less and less “Happiness” as the income climbs.

Entrepreneurship is not about making money, yes we hear about the winners but they are the less than 1%.  The rest work their tail off to hold their ground.

After a minimum level is not the path to happiness.  You need to figure out life balance and what makes you happy.  I have looked at much higher paying jobs for what I do but frankly I enjoy who I work with and have great leave where I work.   The pay is good enough and my son is growing up in a good place.    

A few years ago I set a simple bar for success.  One simple sign of success is, my friends and family sharing good meal with steak and wine.  Seems simple but it is an event that brings me joy and satisfaction of having dear ones gathered around enjoying the time together. 

As to what degrees pay well masters level engineering and science degrees.  Computer Science with experience programming Apps is currently hot and should be for the next few years.  Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and such is also great.  You need to take the hard path in college to get paid well starting off and you need a masters in an ever more saturated diploma carrying environment.  Undergrad is the new high school diploma.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rick Shelton on December 18, 2012 at 10:09am

Happiness?  How about satisfaction?  A job can't 'make' you happy nor can money, that has to come from within.  You can be satisfied with a job in that you like what you do and you like who you are working with and for.

Majors:

Engineering, science (chemistry or geology or physics), medicine, veterinary science; or any of the sciences.  Teaching is a hard row to hoe and the pay is low (I'm a poet!).  Most, actually all, your fine arts majors are pretty much dead ends as far as money goes unless you get real lucky or are real good (and I mean real real real good).  History, Poli-Sci, Communcations again hard to find a good job in those fields, I would say that over 50% of the graduates in those fields are working retail.  Business, Economics, Finance etc. are good fields still.  Computer Science or Computer Engineering are still decent fields as well.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Daniel Paul Carter on December 18, 2012 at 10:19am

I didn't mean anything I said too literally. I was just looking for some advice. 

I understand that money doesn't create happiness. A man creates his own happiness, but due to the fact that I am only 20 it does not seem as ridiculous a question to me.

While money doesn't create happiness, I really want to be comfortable financially in the future. With the ability to travel and provide for my family. Ideally I would have a wife who stayed at home and did not work in order to watch over the children. 

But I also understand that if I want anything in life I really have to set my mind to it and just go do it, nothing anyone tells me will ultimately create a future for me. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jess Levens on December 18, 2012 at 10:37am

^ This is better. Sounds more realistic. Really just find something you like and are good at, then excel at it. People always say "do what you love," but in reality, no matter how much you love a hobby, once you rely on it financially, it becomes work. There's no getting around that. The sooner you can accept that, the sooner you will be able to be content with a job.

I've been in my career field (corporate communication) for 10 years now, and I am at the point where my wife is able to stay home with our son. It's taken lots of hard work, but it was well worth it. I'm in a great place professionally and still have lots of room to advance. I "love" what I do, at least about as much as you can love work. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David F. on December 18, 2012 at 2:35pm

Oh also have a 3.5 GPA that is the larger game at university that people don't explain to the students.  Regardless of career choice your GPA is the first filter, after major.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Justin Spring on December 18, 2012 at 6:30pm

The only "Major in Entrepreneurship" is actually starting a business and learning from the unavoidable mistakes. I started three companies before I turned 30 (I'm 32 now). The first was a big failure and put me several hundred thousand dollars in the hole. I took everything I learned from that and started a second company. That company now employs 20 people and grew 125% this year. The third company is a technology startup. I raised a bunch of money from investors and am now trying to make that one a success (still questionable). 

If you like the idea of creating businesses, a focused degree is much more useful than a broader degree in entrepreneurship. 

I was a marketing major and that served me well considering that my 1st and 2nd companies are marketing firms. The third business is a technology company and has made me realize that the future entrepreneur is a coder (computer science major). I had to raise investor money so I could hire the programmers. Had I been a programmer, I could have started many businesses with no investors and no big expenses.

In summary, marketing and computer science are both great degrees for future entrepreneurs. They will allow you to get a good job, get real experience working in business and then eventually take the plunge into controlling your destiny.  

NOTE: If you go the marketing route, teach yourself SEO and Paid Search (Google Adwords) skills. Every company in the U.S. will need these two types of experts more and more every year for the foreseeable future. If you are really good at it, you could easily earn $60k-$80k in the midwest (not sure how that translates to the coasts) with 3-5 years experience. 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Michael on December 18, 2012 at 10:34am

My major is Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I absolutely love it because it is very broad and I dont particularly know what I want to do with my life. I am a senior in college at an Ivy League school so with this major I have been able to take a look at various industries. In the end it doesn't matter too much. I was most happy about this major because it allowed me to redefine alot of my worldviews in college. In the end I am applying for jobs in the tech startup industry as well as financial advising in the bigger cities. Do something that makes you happy, are interested in, and watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=siu6JYqO...!

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page