Deciding on a field of study in university. Advice?

Choosing a field of study is never an easy task. If I could turn back time and talk to my younger self, I would tell myself to choose another field. In my country, we choose the major when we apply for the university and that is it. You cannot change the major unless you re-apply and start all over again.

Is there any way for you to do some kind of trial runs of the respective field of study before you commit? Or talk to the real professionals about their daily routines, future demands, careers growth, and work-life balance?

I'd say look for the kind of job that can give you a sense of achievement rather than something you are passionate about http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/05/calling-your-finding.html

 

For your music major, what kind of music do you enjoy vs. what your instructors make you play? Is it that the curriculum at your university is geared towards specific music genres and generally shuns others?

I can relate as I'm currently an art major at my university and can't stand the curriculum. I love art and enjoy drawing and painting, but like you're dealing with in your music courses, I have to go through all these art theory classes that I feel don't have any bearing on the art I like to make and I have to make things that I don't like just so I can get good grades. I'm mostly into representational work that is illustrative in nature (think portraiture and landscapes), while most of my instructors push conceptual themes and abstraction and are really hostile to illustrative artwork as they see them as things that have already been done to death and have no real meaning behind them.

I got kida depressed after a while because I thought I'd be doomed to making stuff I don't like just to get my name out there, then I realized that a lot of artists make the same kind of work I like and it sells well. So now I grit my teeth and do the crappy work knowing that when it's all done I can paint all the portraits and landscapes I want without an instructor telling me that they're not successful because there's no deeper meaning behind them or that its all been done before.

If you choose to stay with your music major just keep in mind that once you're done with university you can do whatever kind of music you want. And from what I've heard from friends in other majors, every major has the boring classes that we have to slog through before we get that little piece of paper saying we completed four years of study.

Ultimately you should choose a major that you feel really good about doing. If you enjoy writing and playing music, do it. If you feel really drawn to astronomy, try it out as a minor and see how it goes. If you end up liking the latter more, then make that your major while retaining music as a minor. I will also say don't feel bad if it takes you a while to figure out exactly what you want to do. University is a big step in life and if you need to take your time to discover what you really want, then take your time and the rest of the world be damned. It took me a few years before I really settled on what I wanted to do.

 

Unfortunately there’s no easy answer on how to choose one thing! Please just remember that whatever you pick now doesn’t have to be the career for the rest of your life. Even within a field, there are usually plenty of options which can be extremely varied. Also there is always the opportunity to retrain. It isn’t always as easy when you get older but it it absolutely possible.

Going to work each day is a whole lot easier if it is something you enjoy but some folk choose to keep their main interests as hobbies. Maybe this is what you’d prefer to do with music?

As for knowing when you’ve made the right choice, I’d say it’s when you feel good about what you’re doing each day and are looking forward and thinking about a future within the field. I do that about my current job which is a huge contrast to my previous job in a slightly different sector where I dreaded gettjng up each morning and could not see where I would go in the coming years.

It’s stressful trying to decide what to do, but remember if it doesn’t feel right in the future it doesn’t mean you made the wrong decision, it just means your opinions have changed.

Good luck with whatever you chose!