How do I figure out what I'm interested in?

By: Pranati Swayampakula

Okay, if you’re clicking on this article, you’re one of two things: a high school junior or senior that’s freaking out because they have no clue what they want to major in to build their career path, or you love to plan as a freshman or sophomore. Either way, welcome! We all have to get started somewhere. Choosing a career path can be tricky, especially if there are multiple different things you think you could see yourself do. It can get even more complicated if you don’t see yourself doing anything yet. There are multiple steps you can take to narrow down what you’re interested in.

Step 1: Take a deep breath. Go on, a deep breath in and out. Freaking out and panicking isn’t going to help you figure out what you want to do any faster. It’ll just make you more confused. So, you need to keep a calm and clear head when you’re trying to decide what to do.

Step 2: Decide if you want to go into the STEM Fields or not. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. These are all pretty broad topics, but it should be quite easy to eliminate these areas of study. If you don’t like your science or math courses, that automatically takes out the ‘S’ and ‘M’ fields. The' T' fields are out if you aren’t interested in coding or working with computers. Finally, you’re left with the ‘E’ fields. Now, this is a little bit more tricky. Engineering is a vast and open field, but there are a few ways to figure out if engineering is the move for you. Most schools have a club like the Technology Students Association, TSA for short. Join and attend a few meetings, see if any of them interest you. There’s also a lot of great websites that will let you explore this field extensively. Many high schools have many clubs and courses you can take that have to do with different career paths. High school is a time where you can explore all your options.

Step 3: If all else fails, take a career matching quiz! They’re all over the internet and can give you a great starting point from which to jump off of!

Good luck! If you want more updates on Career Exploration, check back every week!