College freshman trying to think of a possible career path

[OneLovelyAdventure]

Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and it's really nice to meet all of you

I just have a predicament. (Well, "predicament" might be a strong word.) But I'm a freshman in college, and registration for spring classes is coming up quite soon. I want to be able to register for some classes that might have some correlation to what I want to do in the future as a career, but I have no clue what I want to do with my life. What kinds of careers would be good for someone like me?

First off, I'm an ENFP, if that helps. Other things about me:

• I love working with, guiding, and helping people.
• I absolutely adore children.
• I consider myself highly independent; I want to be able to do my own thing.
• I hate routine, but at the same time I love being in control of things and organizing things.
• I love leading other people and being looked up to.
• I love excitement and new experiences. Repetition and monotony bore me to no end.

Well, any help would be lovely! Thanks so much!

 

[HongDou]

School counselor, social worker, teacher, and psychologist are what I got from that. Kinda short though, but maybe enrolling in a psych/child psych class might interest you.

What possible careers catch your attention? By that I mean disregarding what you think you're good at (I'm a psych major but if I could handle two jobs I would totally be a coroner) and just what simply catches your interest. If anything else does you could explore those subjects, see how you handle the material and how happy you are with it, and go from there.

 

[Showbread]

Social Work was my first thought. Or maybe younger elementary age teacher.

 

[gromit]

Haha I am biased, but you could consider doing pediatric physical therapy!

You could work with young kids in the home or older kids at preschool or school-school. The kids all have different needs, some developmental, some cognitive, some just straight-up physical, and you would have to be really engaged and creative. Never a dull moment.

It requires a doctoral degree (3yrs) so you'd have to get a bachelor's degree/make sure you have the prerequisites, and then apply to the grad programs.

 

[Kullervo]

Well firstly you're not alone, so don't worry...

I suggest that you take the free MAPP test here: Take the MAPP Assessment. It is good that you are thinking about potential careers; however I'd encourage you to expand this even more broadly. Ask yourself where you want to be in 10 years time - imagine what you would like your life to be like. I am not just talking about a job...where do you want to live, do you want to be married, have children, etc.

 

[Mole]

Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and it's really nice to meet all of you

I just have a predicament. (Well, "predicament" might be a strong word.) But I'm a freshman in college, and registration for spring classes is coming up quite soon. I want to be able to register for some classes that might have some correlation to what I want to do in the future as a career, but I have no clue what I want to do with my life. What kinds of careers would be good for someone like me?

First off, I'm an ENFP, if that helps. Other things about me:

• I love working with, guiding, and helping people.
• I absolutely adore children.
• I consider myself highly independent; I want to be able to do my own thing.
• I hate routine, but at the same time I love being in control of things and organizing things.
• I love leading other people and being looked up to.
• I love excitement and new experiences. Repetition and monotony bore me to no end.

Well, any help would be lovely! Thanks so much!

Why not do it the other way round? Why not enroll in course you like and then see where they lead to.

 

[bronte27]

I think most of the previous posters have it covered, but I definitely see social work or teacher as the two best possibilities if you're hoping to work with kids at least. But hey, the possibilities are endless and you're only a freshmen. Take some classes, try some things, talk to professors and you'll figure it out eventually. Don't sweat it too much right now, although I admire your dedication from trying to seek out answers early. Way to be proactive.

 

[senza tema]

I don't know much about social work ... but teaching involves a shit ton of grinding, mind numbing bureaucracy that will do its best to rub the idealism right out of you day after day after day.

Yes, I sound like a party pooper but so many people fall into it thinking it's all gonna be fun and games and kids (and don't even get me started on the TFA "5 weeks is enough to make you god's gift to humanity" brigade, omg) but the reality is vastly different. IDK. If you go down that route try to get hands on classroom experience ASAP to see if it's for you or not. Preferably in some place like Trenton (you're from NJ, right?) so you get some idea of how bad it can get, lol.

I'm not a teacher (thank god) but some of my friends continue to want to do this regardless of how hard it is and their kids LOVE them and it's really touching and awesome. But so hard.

 

[PocketFullOf]

Child psychologist maybe?

 

[johnnyyukon]

Well, before I give you any tips on how important it is to choose every class perfectly as it will make or break your entire future (IT WON'T), I'll give you some good baby steps I wish someone told me.

Or maybe one.

I don't know how your college/University works, but mine, whatever department I was in, if there was a class taught more than once (usually is, especially as a freshman) I'd go to as many as I could to find, not the class, but the TEACHER I liked.

Remember that.

Sometimes I'd even follow a teacher from semester to semester as long as the credits fit just cuz he/she was so awesome.

Sooooo, it kind of sucked, but I'd sign up for my five classes, then go sit in on like 5 or more OTHER classes. If I got a good vibe from the teacher, even if the class was full, I'd talk after class and I ALWAYS got the teacher I wanted. Showing up goes a long way.

Sometimes I'd sit in for 2 minutes, I could tell this teacher/Professor was going to suck, and just walk out, haha.

Anyway, one tip that made the second half of college a lot more fun, at least the academic part.

Oh also, I took several Honors classes even though I wasn't in the program cuz they were taught by Professors not dumbass T.A.s Men and women with a real passion.

Good luck, alcohol and drugs are bad, mmmkay! No keg stands til you're 21. Ok, 3rd week.



EDIT: and if you like being looked up to, and leading, nothing well help you more with BOTH of those than having a mentor of your own, or two. And the more teachers you hang out with....you might meet one.

 

[johnnyyukon]

Haha I am biased, but you could consider doing pediatric physical therapy!

You could work with young kids in the home or older kids at preschool or school-school. The kids all have different needs, some developmental, some cognitive, some just straight-up physical, and you would have to be really engaged and creative. Never a dull moment.

It requires a doctoral degree (3yrs) so you'd have to get a bachelor's degree/make sure you have the prerequisites, and then apply to the grad programs.

Not bad.

And it also doesn't hurt to start thinking (god you're so young, but never to early to plan) about ca$h money. Not as a goal, but just consider that a lot of college students (or at least my generation, X) think money will just land in your lap if you study real hard, but certain industries are safer bets LIIiiiiiiikkke, healthcare, in gromit's case.


Just throwin that out there. I wish I'd thought of that more seriously.

And you can always go teach abroad and make money for a semester or two. There's a million ways to do that.

But damn, don't forget to have a little fun.

 

[grey_beard]

Hi, everyone! I'm new here, and it's really nice to meet all of you

I just have a predicament. (Well, "predicament" might be a strong word.) But I'm a freshman in college, and registration for spring classes is coming up quite soon. I want to be able to register for some classes that might have some correlation to what I want to do in the future as a career, but I have no clue what I want to do with my life. What kinds of careers would be good for someone like me?

First off, I'm an ENFP, if that helps. Other things about me:

• I love working with, guiding, and helping people.
• I absolutely adore children.
• I consider myself highly independent; I want to be able to do my own thing.
• I hate routine, but at the same time I love being in control of things and organizing things.
• I love leading other people and being looked up to.
• I love excitement and new experiences. Repetition and monotony bore me to no end.

Well, any help would be lovely! Thanks so much!

Welcome aboard, [MENTION=23396]OneLovelyAdventure[/MENTION] (that name is kinda good for this site, too).

I think [MENTION=9486]gromit[/MENTION] gave the best advice -- pediatric physical therapy.
Child psychologist is good, except that many of them end up dealing with troubled children, and that often means troubled families.
Were you an INFP, that'd be a natural fit; but as an ENFP -- I think you'd like more uplifting work.
Secondly, the bureaucracy can take the life out of you: but if you did physical therapy, you'd get to see more direct feedback and positive results:
which would be very fulfilling.

(I once had eye work done by an opthamologist who had switched over from first-in-their-class-in-cardiology for med school, because heart doctors often have their patients *die* on them,
whereas eye doctors often *restore* sight. One is much more depressing than the other. Same principle here.)

Good luck from a 5w4 sx/sp INTJ robot.

 

[gromit]

re: pediatric PT...

If you feel like this might be a good fit for you, see if you can talk to a practicing peds PT about her/his daily routine. You may or may not be able to shadow/observe as well. It would likely depend on parental consent. I don't know exactly how that works as I didn't do any pediatrics during my observation hours.

Also, here is a link to the most common prerequisites (published by the centralized application system for PT programs in the US):

http://www.ptcas.org/ProgramPrereqs/Summary/


Do those sound like courses you could see yourself studying? The programs are quite science-based. You also look at things from a behavioral perspective as well. But the science side is definitely something to consider.