Could someone help me out here?

[SirJazzHands]

Okay. I'm seventeen years old and I'm thinking about college and all that jazz. And I'm not entirely sure what it is I want to do with my life. I've mulled over this before so I'm not going to put too much thought into it because it's stressing.. but..
Does anyone have a suggestion for a job/career/major that meets these following requirements?

- challenging
- not too stressful
- allows for hobbies
- fulfilling
- working with people and helping them

The reason I ask is because I'm one of those "Oh I'm so interested in English and literature" kinda persons.. and well.. maybe I'm being defeatist, but there doesn't seem to be much hope there. I'm also interested in things such as psychology, photography, cryptography-- though not necessarily proficient in any of those things (especially the last one), just as I said, interested.

Thanks for any help =D

[Shalot]

Okay. I'm seventeen years old and I'm thinking about college and all that jazz. And I'm not entirely sure what it is I want to do with my life. I've mulled over this before so I'm not going to put too much thought into it because it's stressing.. but..
Does anyone have a suggestion for a job/career/major that meets these following requirements?

- challenging
- not too stressful
- allows for hobbies
- fulfilling
- working with people and helping them

The reason I ask is because I'm one of those "Oh I'm so interested in English and literature" kinda persons.. and well.. maybe I'm being defeatist, but there doesn't seem to be much hope there. I'm also interested in things such as psychology, photography, cryptography-- though not necessarily proficient in any of those things (especially the last one), just as I said, interested.

Thanks for any help =D

I am an English major. I am returning to school to major in something else so that I can get paid. I always liked English (writing mostly) and since I didn't have a clue what was going on in the world when I was in college, I went ahead and majored in English with some hesitation because i kind of knew that the English major doesn't really guarantee a job when you graduate.

Whatever you do, go to class, do your best and make good grades. Hang out at career services, and try to take a lot of internships to list as experience on your resume. Try to build some references in college, even if you do major in English.

Someone told me once that you have to do what you love. But how do you know what you love when you're 18? 18 is the age when you legally become an adult, but I think most people aren't mature adults at the age of 18, and I think a lot of people don't actually know what they want to do with their lives at that age.
Good luck!! Enjoy it while you can.

[applepie]

Studying for physical therapy could be good. Maybe focus on disabled children, or study to teach special education. I think both would be rewarding, but you would likely still have pretty regular hours. Good luck choosing something:)

[andave_ya]

What about library science? I'm thinking of becoming an academic librarian myself, with a specialty in English literature.

[crazefest456]

You shouldn't worry about it at all! I know you've been pressured by others, asking you what you're going to do with your life (i'm going thorough that, too).. . I mean, if you're planning to go to college, alot of your future classmates will be undecided anyway, and I'm sure you'll find what you want to do accidentally. This is what happened to me last summer: my political philosophy teacher and I were just talking about nothing important and suddenly she recommended this book about the 4 spatial dimensions (and more) to me. I was very indifferent about her suggestion, but when I finished the book, I fell in love with Physics...and it was such a coincidence that I had this profound love of science when I was a child, and I gained interest in math when I got to high school. Apparently, I never even thought of any field that was even slightly related to science ( I was undecided then) before I had read the book. Everyone around me was excited to become doctors and lawyers and whatnot, and I felt like I was never going to get anywhere...Try not to worry too much, and just keep doing what you love, so that at one point you can stumble upon something that'll consume you so much that you'd immediately know that you were meant to do this. And college is a great opportunity to explore everything and do multiple majors so that you can narrow down your interests.
good luck!

[Princess_1986]

Go with your heart, and lose yourself in the things you love. You're so young (and I am too), and we have our lives before us. Whatever happened to laying back and waiting for life to happen? lol

[vheissu]

What about becoming a speech therapist? It would mean studying more language (as in structure, grammar...) rather than just literature, but at college/university you could do both for some years. Some people in fact graduate with a joint degree in english language and literature (now that's challenging!).

Another idea, again as a degree to which you could build up a career, could be cognitive science...that combines a lot of different subjects: linguistics, physics, psychology, philosophy, IT and neuroscience...some others I can't remember right now

But yes, you're still really young! When do you have to actually make these decisions? You could always take a year out before starting a degree

[Pretty^Athens]

i'm having the same problem. i'm an-Enfglish litrature kinda person and i purely wabna study english litreture and journalism but no one's incoureged me, it's all going like you'll never get a job. but i'm telling ya that if you love something so hard just go with your heart and do it, work hard at it and you'll make a very lovely success...

[blackbird_9]

Don't fear community college!!!!! I got accepted to UCLA right out of high school and ended up not going. It was too much pressure for some random major I wasn't even sure if I wanted to persue. I went to CC and saved loads of money. It was nice to take my time, and make a decision on my major in a more relaxed state of mind. You also get to make as many classes as you want in whatever you want. It was/ is really worth it.

[cactus]

any allied health, physio, speech path, occupational therapy are all appropriate career paths which meet your criteria. Good luck with chosing one.

[Pretty^Athens]

Go with your heart, and lose yourself in the things you love. You're so young (and I am too), and we have our lives before us. Whatever happened to laying back and waiting for life to happen? lol

do you really think it's the best thing to do? to go with the heart and to lose myself?