Tex

Coming out of high school, I hadn't figured out what I wanted to do with my life. I was a pretty solid athlete (baseball) but my aspirations of becoming a professional athlete had gone away. It's a tough pill to swallow when you realize the one thing you truly loved growing up as a kid is not going to be an option. (career wise) Sometimes I wish I had been born with no skill for the game at all...I think that would've been on easier on me as I would've never had hopes of reaching the majors. Anyway...

Here I am, 2nd year of junior college. I can't for the life of me figure out what I want to do with my life. I DO know that I want to transfer to a major university somewhere, but aside from that...I'm lost. The problem is that there alot of things I like to do, but none that I have a real PASSION for. My passion growing up was baseball. I really didn't think there was a need for anything else.

Nowadays, the only thing that comes close to that passion is my love for humanitarism. I care ALOT about other people. I care about their suffering and about helping other people with their problems. I've also become very interested in politics and in philosophy. These three subjects intertwine and cross-over on a few a different levels so that has helped me shape my philosophical, political, ethical and religious views.

Now, the hard part. The time has come for me to pick a major and stick to it. I need to figure out what career path I'm going to go down. I've been brainstorming for the past few weeks and have come up with a few ideas...

1)Major in Philosophy for my undergrad work...then head off to Law school.
2)Go Pre-Med
3)Sports Journalism and/or Sports Management

I really don't want to make money the bottom line in my decision making process. My parents know they weren't able to give me all the materialistic things I wanted, but in the end, I know it doesn't matter because whenever I needed them, they were there for me. For that I thank them and I believe their reward comes in knowing they raised a good son.

In the end, I just want to make the right decision. I want to look back and feel fulfilled and not full of regrets. To be honest, I don't know what I'm expecting as far as replies go. I just felt like I needed to get this off my chest and needed to put it out somewhere where people would understand what I was going through.

-Eddie

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"All I know is that I know nothing..."

gar1976

If you go, man, go big. I'm a professional, and always regretted not shooting high - like med school, which I'm smart enough to have done well in. If I had gone for it *sigh*. Anyways, now's the time in your life to just go for it, you're young enough to recover from any crashing and burning.

Just a point of advice - take your studying and schooling seriously, and try not to just "skate buy." I skated buy with a 3.5 in college (never went to class until my senior year), and spent more time figuring out how to skip class and still get a B or A then actually going, which really blows the whole experience.

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Blistex, in regards to crappy games -

They made pong look like a story driven RPG with a dynamic campaign.

Rodney

I might point out Political Science as an undergrad degree leading to law school, as well as Philosophy. I took it as a second major to journalism, years ago, and I learned so much that applied to the world, to power, and how things get done, good or bad. There should be room for some philosophy inside the major, too. It teaches how the system works or doesn't work, and if you want to be a lawyer to help people, that's valuable knowledge.

If you wanted to stay in sports as a trainer or coach, there is are also undergrad degrees in sports physiology, which could tie eventually to a medical career or a sports career.

clavus

Your job does not have to be your passion, and vice versa. Your job can fund your passion.

Regardless of what you major in, do some internships. Its the most important thing you can do in college (even more important than getting good grades). Internships will get you the first job out of college, andthey will help you decide what you want to do in "real life."

Take a few classes that interest you, even if they have NOTHING to do with your major. All that time in school, and I never took an art class. LAME!

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Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

Jesus Pimp

Sounds like you want to join the peace corps.

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Never date anyone who doesn't make your dick hard.

chickentribs

Tex - at least know that you aren't feeling anything that we all haven't gone through to some degree. It can feel like you are making all of the decisions for the rest of your life the first couple of years in school. Truth be told - few people end up making a career out of whatever their major in school is (exceptions being IT and Accounting mostly).

Med school is great - but unless you have an unusual passion for medicine, you can burn out quickly. Generally not the kind of thing that you jump into casually... Somebody told me early on that the purpose of college is to teach you how to effectively learn. I know it sounds a bit PC - but in the end I found that to be as true as anything else. I always enjoyed philosophy courses for that particular reason. Law school is good for that also - just know that only a fraction of those students end up actually practicing law for a living. But it is a great discipline in logic and debate - which makes you prepared for a whole lot out there.

"The best laid plans of mice and men" and all that - just concentrate on doing well today - tomorrow will take care of itself. Good luck!

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Oft expectation fails...
and most oft there Where most it promises
- Shakespeare, W.

xray21

become a teacher

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Blessed By Pain

farcryer

You know the right decision already don't you? Oh come on, don't you? Flip a coin with your options and say heads one way, tails another. If one side wins and you catch even a whiff of the feeling "shiat" in your gut, you know you already know what you want to do.

Do something you think you'll enjoy, and never sell yourself short. As has been said, med-school is for those with a passion and will drive you very hard. Law school is similar. Lay out a general plan and get some work/life experience.

I think a sports-related degree might be a good idea. You'd get to stay in an environment you like, and if you had an education leaning towards physical therapy or another recuperative field you would have the opportunity to help lots of people. It would also be less intense/binding than the years and thousands of dollars for medical school.

Ustwo

You can do this but you better like what you are doing.

I wouldn't call my job a passion, but its pretty high up there and I LIKE it. If I didn't I wouldn't be as good as I am at it.

For me the key was finding something I liked to do that I could also do well financially in.

I really love astronomy, archeology and paleontology, but they don't put a lot of bread on the table. I went safe with dentistry and then orthodontics. Its not a super passion for me, I don't live and die teeth, but I like what I do enough that I don't get up wishing I was anywhere else besides working.

As someone else said, whatever you decide aim high, you will always regret it if you shoot lower then your potential.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

iliketoast

Hi... one point really sticks out to me. You always planned on baseball being you profession, but now you realize that you want to do something else as far as jobs go. I knew since I was 9 I wanted to be a programmer, worked with computers since I can remember. After working a few years in that field I realized I didn't enjoy it near as much. I hope you stick with playing or maybe coaching at least, having your favored passtime seperate from work is really better in my opinion.
I'm working some job that really doesn't matter, but I have my techie computer addiction to bring me joy aside for the normal work. As far as what to do or what to aim for.... I am at a loss. I'm 24 now, and am still getting on my feet after several ups n down.
Stick with school, if you get burnt out and can afford it, take some classes just for fun. Even if its just something to do until you find a true calling in life, you'll never regret going through with your education. (My biggest regret is throwin in the towel and partying fulltime instead.)

alpha666

ok .... heres the thing .... i am 25 and have gone through a number of career changes i have a degree in communication and media production,,, at the time i thought that it was what i wanted to do, once i had finished i realised all that i would be doing in the media is creating the kind of boring soul destroying adverts that you see on tv or hear on the radio, i soon got jaded with that.
at the moment i am at a cross roads and am looking at my options.
life takes many twists and turns what you do today does not reflect what you are going to be doing in the future.
don't feel that a university / collage degree is the be all and end all of your life. you always have the option to change where you are in life,
in short it takes a long time to work out where you really want to be in life, just try to not get down about it! keep your head up and keep looking for who you really are, (lets face it no one knows who they are when they are young) once you find yourself .... you will find the career you are looking for.

geeezzzeee that was deep!

corktop1

Sounds like law school might be the solution for you. You seem to have interests that would make this a good fit. Plenty of opportunities for going down the political route, teaching, legal clinic work, sports management/agency for a fortunate few - endless variations. If you have the ability, commitment and the bucks to pay the tuition and keep a roof over your head, etc. I don't see how this could be a mistake for someone with your interests. The alternative might be to get out into the real world and try some internships, etc. but you may lose momentum in doing that. I'm sure you'll find your way - the fact that you're taking it as seriously as you are (and seeking help from this group of geniuses) would seem to suggest that you are enlightened enough to recognize the answer when it comes your way.

Good luck with your future.

theFez

dont be afraid to look outside the box either. when a friend and i were applying to college, the guidence counselor tried to convince my buddy to major in political science. He knew he really wanted to be a trial lawyer, wanted to be in the court rooms. He also said that if guidance counselors knew how to choose careers how did they end up as high school guidance counselors. He majored in psychology and took a minor in theatre. But he also busted his ass and had great grades and LSAT's. We lost touch many years ago, but last i heard he was working in the NYC DA's office.

Personally I majored in philosophy, got accepted to law school, but decided it wasnt for me. moved west and started a good decade of serious ski bumming. I finally got tired of the dead end jobs and went back to school for a computer science degree. I love what i do now and have memories and adventures to last a lifetime. I kind of feel i took the first 10 years of my retirement in my 20's.

Don't assume that choices made now will determine the course of the rest of your life. they will have effects, but wont be deterministic.

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# chmod 111 /bin/Laden

Rainy

Only a few really lucky people know what they really want at your age. I'm 25, have a degree in engineering geoogy, and i've made it as a consultant engineer. This is what i wanted to be at school and college so i chose it for uni too. You'd think i would be happy doing something i always wanted growing up? Problem is i have no real interest in this anymore, so it just goes to show that childhood aspirations mean shit sometimes. The things that truely interest me like forensics and criminal psychology i will need to go back to uni to study, so i'm quitting my well paid job, gonna travel for a year or two and see if i still want to be a csi or criminal profiler after that, and if so go back and study for it. Life isn't about going to school, then college, then uni, get the 9to5 job, get married have 2.5 children, work until you are 65, retire and finally die, knowing exactly what you want every step of the way. your ideas, dreams and aspirations will change as you mature and sometimes when you get what you think you wanted you realise you were wrong, so you start over. dont stress too much and just go with the flow, you seem smart and will probably work something out

bal8664

My advice, take as many random courses you can before you have to decide. Law, Medicine, Philisophy, Various Sciences, Computers, History, Arts, Basket Weaving, Whatever. I never knew i'd enjoy cooking until i just randomly took a class in it. Now it's one of my favorite hobbies. Just try to experience as much as you can while you're still there

Johnny Rotten

You don't need a journalism degree to do journalism. In fact, I wouldn't recommend it. I'd do Communications, which gives you both print and TV options. Since you're in Southern Cali, that gives you some great options for media interships. Try interning for a TV or radio station, or a newspaper. Talk or write about sports, or both. Your background as an actual player should give you leverage.

Mobo123

I was a political science major coming out of college, which stepped right into law school. Tex, you can major in anything and go into law school. There are no "right" subjects that get you in.

If you decide to go to law school, great. It's always good to have. You can always find a job. But i've been a lawyer for almost 18 years and am sick to death of it. In fact, i dont know anybody who actually likes being a lawyer. It sucks.

So, like you, i am planning for the future. We are trying to open a strip club.! Now,that is a hell of a lot more fun and profitable than being a lawyer.

It's tough to figure out what to if nothing catches your eyes. A lot of good advice has been given here. Read it and take it under advisement.