Career Planning

While you do not need to get too worried about the connection between your major and your career, you also do not need to get too worried that the career you think you want now will keep you tied to that path forever.  Do you know that people go through an average of 4-5 different jobs  in their lifetime?   It’s important to know that what you do after you graduate from Wesleyan is not necessarily what you will be doing  five, ten or even twenty years later. 

So what might you end up doing?  Go to the CRC to check out the possibilities.   First, get familiar with what kinds of information they have to offer you and then begin to check out the kinds of positions that are available in the different fields.  There are jobs people are doing—making a decent living from AND enjoying—that you haven’t even heard of.  With the rapid transformation in technology today, there will be jobs when you graduate that do not even exist now.  You can always think about creating your own.  Dream away!

And check out the “Choosing a Major” workshop with CRC sophomore liaison, Jim Kubat, at noon, Usdan 110–today.

While you want to major in something about which you are passionate or have the depth of interest to sustain your curiosity and inspiration over the next couple of semesters, don’t get too hung up on the connection between your major and career.  Yes, there are those careers, such as, for example, the sciences or economics, in which you do need a particular knowledge background to go on to graduate or professional school.  However, that does not preclude you from majoring in a humanities, another social science or art, as long as you have taken the appropriate courses–and vice-versa.   

What’s important to remember is that your skill in analytic thinking or writing may be perfect for law school.  Your training in theater may be just what is needed for product consultation at Microsoft (yes, truly, this has been a job for a couple of Wes alums).   Your ability to think critically, speak articulately, and write succinctly are as valued as your imagination, creativity and chutzpah.  Your major and career are not necessarily in a one-to-one relationship.    

It’s fascinating to see the myriad number of things that Wes alums have done with their majors.  To check this out, go to  WesCAN in the Career Resource Center bucket in your portfolio.   But first, you need to need to see one of the CRC staff members.  Tsophomore liaison is Jim Kubat  (http://classof2013.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2010/08/25/jim-kubat-soph-liaison-to-the-crc/), but any  staff member is happy to meet with you.  Your visit to the CRC is worth it in more ways than one.