Career Advice as far as picking a major?
Question: I have interests in Real Estate, Urban Studies, Sociology and Computers. I am currently a senior in high school and am trying to pick a major. I really enjoy Urban Studies because learning about different cities and their structure really intrigues me. I also love to visit different cities and explore. Sociology and Urban Studies seem to go hand and hand because people live in cities. I also enjoy Real Estate because everyone needs a place to live no matter if your rich or poor and, Real Estate makes up a large part of any city. Also, I enjoy working with computers but I don't want to be a programmer or anything like that. Maybe something on the lines of System Administration, Network Administration or Help Desk Support. I have heard that IT jobs are being outsourced so I am very lerry about going in that field. I am trying to pick a major that I will be able to make good money with so I can live comfortably. I always enjoyed my social studies, business, and english classes.
Answer:
spend the summer interning for an urban planner or real estate developer. Some municipalities (local government) have internships. Spend some time in those environments and see what the real meat of the job is and if you are still interested.
You will need to decide for yourself what exactly that you want to be. Your interests seem to have vast differences.
You are in an interesting position, but a good one. The fact is that you want to get a degree, but one that will be transferrable to the other fields that you mention.
You don't really need a degree to do real estate, at least not as an agent or a broker. You just take classes with a local real estate broker such as Long and Foster, Remax, Coldwell Banker, etc. Then you can spend time "on the floor" taking calls from random people who call in and need an agent. As you build your client base, you progress up the ladder onto your own group or work by yourself.
To be a Network Administrator or System Administrator, some jobs will require you to have a degree, but most will not care what the degree is in. They are really looking for you to have certifications such as MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). That is a series of about 7 or so tests. For about $7,000 you could take a 2-week crash course at a certified program and you would be prepared to take all of the courses and leave the program with your MCSE certificates. Or with the proper study materials (i.e. Transcenders Notes) and dedicated time, some people do well studying for these tests on their own. I know about about these first two industries because my husband worked in IT for a real estate company.
The other fields of study you mentioned, I know nothing about; but if they interest you it would seem like a good idea to get a degree in one or both of them and take the side classes to become certified as an MCSE and/or real estate agent. Then you have the best of everything.
It would be good to go to Monster.com and look up some jobs that you think you would like to have and then look at the job descriptions. See what it is that they are asking for and prepare yourself accordingly. Another good reference is the "Jobs Rated Almanac" it rates jobs based on salary, work environment, stress, etc.
But if this seems like too much, don't worry about it. You can take general classes in college until your sophomore year and then you choose your major. But at least by brainstorming now, you have some idea of where your focus will lie.
In our day and age, most people are likely to have 3 or 4+ distinct career paths anyway, so you are just thinking ahead of the game. Good luck.
More Questions & Answers...