Congratulations on your pursuit towards a valuable career, my first-gen. College is your preparation for the career in whatever field or area that you are interested in. Similar to yourself, I was the first person in my family to go to college and I struggled to determine what I was going to do in my life. As a first-generation college student, this is the time to be inquisitive and to figure out what you will do. You will get tied up in doing assignments, writing papers, and doing other tasks throughout your time at Lehigh, which may be insignificant in your next job or activity that you pursue in the future. Preparation for the "real world", should be important to you and you should not take every single assignment too seriously. At the same time, you have time to figure everything out. The ball is in your court so here are your tips in order to get prepared for what lies next in your career path as a first-gen:
1. Figure out your goals.
You should develop career goals for yourself and challenge yourself to complete those goals. What do you want to fulfill in the next few years? Do you want to focus on pursuing a career as an accountant or taking another route in non-profit work? The list of options is endless, but figuring out your goals will make it easier for you to decide what you want to pursue a career in and help you decide what you should get your degree(s) in.
2. Don't be timid about adding and/or dropping a class.
No one is going to judge you, because this experience is supposed to be personalized for you. If you need a class in order to meet your major's requirements and you decide to drop the class, this may be a benefit for you. If you have friends that are in the class prior to you taking that class, you can ask those friends for help. Or perhaps, you develop a new interest, go ahead and pursue it by adding that interest to your curriculum without hesitation.
3. Get other certifications or get a license.
There may be certain certifications that are required or desired in the career path that you wish to pursue. This could mean obtaining additional education (perhaps a Master’s degree, PhD., etc.), getting a Six Sigma Green Belt certification, obtaining your CPA or even obtaining a driver's license. Any other certification or license will help you whether you want to work for a company or start your own business.
4. Don't be scared to change majors. Just do it as early as you can.
If you despise what you're learning about, just stop. Find something that you like. You are early in your career at this point and it is better to change your path of study sooner rather than later. I know people that hated biology and quickly made the switch to economics in their second year as well as people who studied accounting for four years and absolutely hate it! Lehigh also makes switching your major an easy process as compared to other universities so you should not feel pressured.
5. Read company job descriptions in your field and become familiar with that field if you aren't already.
Why not start early and see what you will be getting yourself into? There are all kinds of requirements and preferences that companies have nowadays. Once you get familiar with company descriptions or the field's jargon, you will quickly realize if this field is something that you would love to pursue or something that you dread. You will also discover what you should learn about and study on your own time. Also, if you plan on starting your own small business, it is useful to know what other companies in the industry are doing and to learn more about the practicalities of the industry.
