Sometimes it's impossible to know what a person should do with their career. The options for a degree are as widespread as the Golden Corral buffet. Unfortunately, often times when a prime rib is ordered the end result is a chicken dinner.
The average college student changes their major at least once and many more have a graduate degree in a field completely unrelated to their undergrad. Maybe the American blessing of opportunity has become a curse of indecisiveness. Either way, I had to make that same decision which could have potentially turned my career path upside down. Sometimes a change of major results in an extra year in school, but I have learned that it is much better to do what you are good at versus what you love doing.
Beginning college as an engineering major, I dreamed of a career with one of the great automakers. I wanted to design and test tomorrow's cars, but, as fate would have it, I found that engineering, numbers, and the like are not what I am wired for. This internal struggle led to a year of slumping GPAs even though I had the ability to do much better. I was taking on water and would have capsized if I continued sailing the stormy sea of engineering.
What freed me from the chains of Calculus II and Physics was the realization that there are numerous jobs in every field. I did not have to be an engineer to be in the automotive world. Engineering may have the highest credentials, but there are many jobs in sales, marketing, and everything else needed to run a corporation. Even if I want to I could still have a career fit for an engineer with a solid-works certification. There are many school teachers with nursing degrees, doctors who majored in physics, and lawyers who majored in business. If you want to go a step further, tell me how many politicians use their college degree; I bet you couldn't find many congressmen with a degree in political science.
The Washington Post published an article in 2013 stating that only 27% of students have a career in their major. Only one of my parents uses their undergrad and the other one doesn't use their graduate degree for their job. I have a business major, but my doors are open to anything I might enjoy. Who knows, I might even become the "jack of all trades."
At the end of the day, does the major really matter?...or is it the ultimate career goal? Higher education will always be respected by employers and there is a reason why we commit to living our twenties in student loan debt. The job market is constantly changing, but the degrees are not. What is hot today may not be hot tomorrow and while an IT degree might get you an IT job in 2015, it may not in 2017. As long as the economy is stable, it will get you a job. Let us just hope that we do not graduate at the beginning of a recession.
