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A Career? Now? |
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A Career? I Have To Start Thinking About That Now? How much have you thought about your future career? If you're like many high school students, choosing a college seems challenging enough without having to decide how you'll spend your working life. But the two actually go hand-in-hand.
Paving the way with the liberal arts For most students, attending college means majoring in the liberal arts. But even though liberal arts don't emphasize job preparation, they still help prepare you for a wide variety of occupations. With majors in technical fields, it's not hard to predict career paths. A finance major, for example, has a fairly specific range of likely job categories. For those in the liberal arts, career possibilities are not as clearly defined. This isn't necessarily a problem; it just requires a little creativity in career planning efforts. Say you've decided to major in history. The most obvious career target in this field is teaching. If that's your goal, you'll need to make certain choices when selecting college courses. To teach in high school or middle school, you need to take courses in education as well as history and to meet certification requirements. If you wish to teach on the college level, you'll need at least a master's degree-probably a doctorate, too. But wait! Teaching is only one job area. History majors also land jobs in lots of other areas, some directly related to history, some not. So, too, with English: Teaching is an option, but a degree in English can lead to jobs in technical writing, fund-raising, public relations, or advertising. An English degree prepares you well for law school, too. By: Mark Rown - a freelance writer based in Dublin, Virginia | |
"Career planning should be a part of any student's life planning
process," says Marilyn Mackes, executive director of the National
Association of Colleges and Employers in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and a former
administrator at Lehigh University. "While considering personal and
academic goals, you should be considering professional aspirations as
well." This isn't really hard. It just means keeping the career angle in
mind while shopping for a college.
