One of the positive aspects about being in high school is that it is the only thing you really need to worry about. However, after you graduate, it’s a whole new world. You suddenly have to worry about taxes, loans, college, and the most daunting of them all, a career. Some kids just know they were born to be doctors, while others are clueless as to what they want to do. The question is, is it okay for high school students to have doubts about what career to pursue after high school?
Many people seem to have the idea that you must know what you will be doing right when you get out of high school, maybe even before. However, uncertainty is not detrimental to your future.
Chemistry teacher Mrs. Mitchell commented, “I think basically, your future is a blank slate. You want to find something you really love, and you can’t limit yourself.” As she emphasizes, you can still have time to explore your interests and opportunities. College is a time to study your choices, and that is when you should definitely be thinking about your future.
Furthermore, as years pass, people change their minds. As Michelle Lu ’14 states, “Most people leave high school as undecided majors. And more than half the time they end up majoring in something totally different than what they had first imagined.”
What someone wants to do when they’re 17 might not be the same as what they want to do when they’re 22. Interests, dreams, and views alter as you mature. However, Lu continues, saying, “But knowing what you want to do in life is great too! I don’t know personally what I want to do in life; I have a vague idea. But I know people who are very driven and know what they want, which I admire because it’s relatively rare to find your talent so early in life, and they will probably go really far because they are so driven. Some of us just need more time to explore and find out what we love.”
Although it is true that having an idea of what you want to do in the future does help, it is not totally necessary. It is perfectly acceptable to explore your interests after your high school career.
Many colleges, such as Stanford University in California, understand that not everyone knows what he or she wants to pursue. They do not require students to declare their major until their sophomore year. Evidently, even colleges do not require students to be certain about their future immediately after graduating high school. And many students who are initially decided, realize as they progress through college that they actually want to pursue a different career and end up switching majors.
Having uncertainties about your future is natural after you graduate high school, but instead of being nervous, you should focus on exploring your future and deciding what you want to do and who you want to be.