How am I supposed to choose a major or degree when I have no idea what I want to do? Why do people expect me to have all of the answers when I don’t even know half of the options out there for me? How do I answer people when I don’t have all of the details planned out? AGHHHHH!!!!”
Hey, trust me when I say I’ve been there. Many of the people in your life (especially those who are in authority over you such as parents and teachers) want you to succeed and want you to choose something that is “stable” and “you can support yourself in.” Ha! I’ve heard it all. “You should become a doctor or engineer or a lawyer or something like that!” Not that there is anything wrong with those possibilities, they’re only a few of the hundreds of possibilities to explore. And for me, doing any of those three options wasn’t something that I could see myself doing. The problem for me, though, was I couldn’t see myself anywhere. Whenever someone asked me where I could see myself in five years, I saw a blank road ahead of me, with no idea of how the time would be filled. I was so frustrated! I didn’t have answers for anyone, least of all myself.
I started out here at Ambrose in the three-year behavioural science program, primarily because I knew that I really liked my psychology course in high school and I thought I could see myself as either a counsellor or teacher in the future. But this past year, I’ve gone through a ton of uncertainty, especially with regard to the best way to move forward. I had pretty much decided that neither of those original options was a good one (which is a story for another time), so I felt like I had gone back to square one. Now over the past two years, even when I started coming here, I was investigating many careers and degrees. I mean I talked to lawyers, police officers, psychiatrists, accountants, counsellors, HR representatives… etc. I felt constantly stressed and unsure, until I was almost to the point of taking a year off to figure it out.
So, after I had all but decided that I needed to leave, I met with Joy Ulrich. Joy is our director of career development at Ambrose and she’s absolutely fantastic. Not only is she great to talk to when you really are not sure what to do, she’s really helpful in pinpointing where your niche is. I sat down with her and in about five minutes she looked at me and in about two sentences, she pinpointed why I was wrestling with this so much. “You’re looking for some type of job-description, which is unnecessary.” And she was, of course, right. I was looking for some kind of skill or job description. This comes with some degrees, like an engineering or nursing degree, but it’s not the case for a lot of degrees. Most of the degrees out there are pretty broad and offer options for you to specialize in your interests.
Hearing that was a HUGE relief and encouragement. It was okay to tell people that I want to be in the business of helping people without having to come up with a five-point plan of exactly where I would be in the future. My advice to you guys as you look at all of the options out there is this: RELAX! You will get there and it really is okay to change your mind a couple of times before you settle on something. And if you really want to narrow down the options out there, talk to a school guidance counsellor. Or, if you’re in the Calgary area and considering Ambrose, feel free to email Joy and see if she’s available to meet with you and chat. And if you’re an Ambrose student,… TALK TO JOY!
Till next time,
Anna