OPINION: IT’S OKAY TO CHANGE YOUR PATH AFTER GRADUATION

nother year, another class of student graduates with their respective futures ahead of them.

Many may be going into the fields of their majors and many may not, which is perfectly okay. You should pursue the career you desire even if it doesn’t coincide with your degree.

After four years, as graduates walk up to get their diplomas, they’re expected to have a concrete plan for what’s next and have it be related to their degree. By that time, everyone’s taken their capstone course so there’s no going back right?

While you can’t reverse your college path after graduation, you can still change your mind about what you want to do. You can change it ten years from now, twenty years from now or more. While restrictions have largely lifted, this class is still graduating during the pandemic. The world has seen a lot of death these past couple of years. One thing people can take from that is that you have one life in this world, so you should use it doing something you enjoy. While some may understand that it’s morally okay to question what’s next, some may worry logistically. If you have a degree in something, then it sounds logical to just go straight into that field. While some degrees, such as education or engineering, may seem like they lead directly into a specific job, you can still go in a completely different direction and succeed.

College teaches you skills like discipline and time management that you can’t take anywhere. Also, getting that degree, even if you go into something else, isn’t a waste.

Having a degree makes you look good overall even if it’s not in your career field.

In fact, you can probably use it in your interviews as an interesting talking point to make yourself stand out.

UH alumnus Gilbert

Badillo graduated in 2021 with a civil engineering degree and is now an Assistant Project Lead for quality assurance in the video games industry.

“I bear no ill will towards civil engineering, but later in college, it sank in that it wasn’t my passion,” Badillo said. “I don’t regret pursuing another career in the slightest. If you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to pursue your passion you should.”

Badillo also thinks that his degree was actually helpful for pursuing this new career, despite being designed for another career path.

“I think that the difficulty and practicality of an engineering degree improved my standing when applying for my initial position and getting promoted later on,” Badillo said. While degrees are useful, some jobs may require additional education. You can always go to grad school for a different field or take classes at a community college to get different certifications.

If you want to enter into a certain field, there are ways to do so even if you didn’t major in it. It may take time and money and unfortunately, you may have people wondering why you didn’t just stick to the original plan and go into your field. This can feel isolating.

However, a minority of college graduates actually work in their fields. Most don’t. You won’t be alone. The bottom line is that there are always options to change your future. Nothing is set in stone.

If you want to change your career path after graduation, go for it.

There are many reasons why someone may seek higher education. They may want to expand their potential career opportunities, or want a bump in their salary or they may seek personal growth. Regardless of the reason why someone decided to go back to school, they need to apply in order to get in. The process can be daunting. But never fear, I’m here to guide you through it.

Step 1: Choose a Degree Plan

Unlike with your undergraduate degree, there isn’t too much room to ‘find yourself.’ A graduate degree is meant to supplement your existing degree and equip you with knowledge to become a master of your field.