Such a pretty and colorful lunch today!
My midday meal included a toasted onion bagel topped with two slices of provolone cheese, lettuce and plum tomato slices.
Roasted green beans plus Tribe roasted red pepper hummus (for dipping!) and a bag of Brothers All Natural strawberry and banana crisps served as my sides.
I washed everything down with a small bottle of (expired) cranberry juice that I nabbed from my parent’s pantry yesterday.
Moving on to career talk!
If You Could Get a Different Degree…
My sister graduated from college earlier this year and over the weekend I asked her how her friends were adjusting to life in the “real world.” Fortunately most of her friends have found jobs or are in graduate school.
Some of them are working in jobs in entirely different fields than their degrees would have you think, and often by choice! The same thing happened to many of my friends after college as well.
I switched my major several times in college (education to psychology to advertising and public relations) and graduated without really knowing what I wanted to do.
I figured I would pursue a career in public relations, working for a large corporation in a professional setting.
While my first job out of college was in the public relations and marketing field, I quickly realized that all of my favorite tasks involved writing and began to shift my career focus in that direction, eventually taking a job as a content team manager for an internet marketing company.
Though my major was advertising and public relations, my favorite classes were my writing classes or the classes that involved creating some kind of a campaign where copywriting was prominent. Perhaps that should’ve been a sign?
I absolutely love writing and feel very fortunate to be able to have a career in freelance writing and blogging, but I still have a bunch of “wouldn’t that be neat” career ideas in my head.
Other careers that interest me include:
- Teacher (I went to college planning to be a high school English teacher, but my interest has now shifted to elementary school)
- Physical Therapist
- News Anchor
- Dietitian at a University (When I worked for UCF dining services after graduation, I got to meet with a dietitian at UCF who helped craft meal plans for athletes which seemed like such a cool job!)
- Guidance counselor
Question of the Morning
- What jobs intrigue you?
- If you could go back in time, would you pursue a different career?
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I’m doing it. I have a few degrees, all bio related, working on my MSRD. Yay!!!
My degree is in English and I’m currently working on my MA/PhD in English to become a professor. I wish I could’ve done nutrition… But when I tried, all the sciences killed me. I also wish I studied linguistics a bit, and took some more history classes. Overall, I’m happy though.
I am currently getting my Ph.D. in biology, and I have gotten my bachelors and masters already. Despite the fact that I have put in so much time and effort into these degrees, sometimes I think how cool other degrees would have been! Journalism would be cool, and also sometimes I wish i had gone into business.
I graduated with a dregree in broadcasting wanting to be producer or editor and landed a job in media sales after graduation. After 4 years in the real world I realized I didn’t love what I was doing and am currently in school to be an esthetician. I love skin care and anything beauty related so I figured why not go back to school?
1. Baby nurse
2. Teacher
3. Fitness Instuctor
My degree is in liberal studies, which is a nice way if saying general education. I look it as I know a little bit about everything!
Love this post and how it makes you think. To be honest it doesn’t bring any surprises to me because I have had this on my mind constantly lately. My degree and masters have brought me a wonderful career but the more I become interested in fitness and food the more I wish I would have had those same passions in college so I could have pursued a degree in that direction. Making interesting life decisions these days so we shall see what the future holds…;)
Your risk to make the change is quite inspirational to me. Living your dream…now THAT is awesome!
I just graduated with an honours BA in psychology. Now I’m learning that it can’t really get you a job, so I’m slowly pursuing early childhood education through working, volunteering and possibly more school. However, my true passion lies in writing. I would love to write for a living, but job opportunities are so few for beginners. I would have also wanted to be a dietician.
I’m a senior in college now and am a little lost, although I think I will try journalism for a while. We’ll see! I would be interested in nutrition and social work if I wasn’t eng/poli sci.
I have a finance degree and am training to be a real estate appraiser (stuck with my degree – still in the business field). I am really envious of my friend who recently became an RD.
I would totally go to school to be an RD if I could ‘push the restart button’!
I would go back and be a Physical Therapists. I would love to help athletes get back to do what they love.
I love what I do now – I got a degree in marketing and work at an amazing internet marketing company – but I always have the though in my head to go back to school!
I majored in Public Relations, Marketing & Advertising and am currently a Meeting & Event Planner. I really like my job and am looking to stay in this field. If I ever went part-time or didn’t have to work then I would probably work as a fitness instructor. My husband is a Personal Trainer so fitness is very big with us and I enjoy doing different styles of fitness.
I’d definitely love to be a dietitian or nutritionist. Failing that writing and failing that I’d give being a chef a go!
I have a Bachelors of Music in Music Business/Management and at the start of this summer I decided I wanted to go back to school to get my Certificate in Fitness Instruction. I love managing bands but it’s not financially feasible at the start of your career and I don’t like being someone’s assistant who is managing a band – I just want to DO it! I quickly learned that going back to school wasn’t helping my music career but rather I felt like I was changing paths and that didn’t sit right. I gave that up (at least for now) and I’m continuing working in retail (at a company i LOVE) and pushing forward with my management company. When I realized I was okay with this, I felt back on track. It’s funny how that works…
My degree is in Chemistry, because that’s what I really enjoyed (i know I’m weird). Looking back I wish I had choose business administration because all the jobs that i think would be fun to do are business related. Wedding planner, salon or spa manager/owner, and running a boutique. I also considered dietitian at one point. I ended up going to law school, which is very different from everything else i considered.
I battle with this issue every week I am currently a social worker and hate it, I know if I was in a different setting I probably would enjoy it more but since starting my blog I have realized how much I enjoy writing. Things I wish I could get a degree in English, nutrition, culinary school, early childhood education! I have not given up one of those things I will get my masters in, now to figure out which one is the hardest part!
My degree was in Professional Writing, and I’m currently an editor, which I love. The only other field I’d really be interested in working in is something with animals, either veterinary medicine or marine biology…but I hated science in school, so I figured that wasn’t the world for me!
I graduated last year with a degree in Public Relations and Advertising. The only reason I did it is because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I was naturally gifted at writing. So I figured, I would just go the Journalism/PR/Advertising route. Now I work in the food industry and love it! If I would have been better at science I would have gotten a degree in Food Science.
What a good question! After two master’s degrees and now my PhD I try not to think about this question because I’ve invested so much of my time in building a career in the academe, lol. But I inevitably DO think about it sometimes. My identical twin sister just got her MBA from Northwestern and now works in brand management for the Dove skincare line in NYC (she used to be in charge of managing Wrigley gum). I think about how I also would have loved to do what she is doing…but c’est la vie. I am very fulfilled with researching what helps underprivileged students get to and succeed in college. Oh, and I also WRITE, WRITE, WRITE all the time!!! Do you want to come write my 400 page dissertation/book for me? Thanks <3
I majored in economics and while I love the subject there aren’t a ton of jobs that deal with the theory side of it so I’m stuck in business. I would have loved to have majored in something I could have actually done… maybe a science and working in a lab?
I like my job but miss writing (which I thought I would persue as a career). I also would love to be a pediatrician some day but medschool seems a bit out of reach right now…
I started doing my Education degree but then switched to Marketing – and have worked in that field ever since I finished school. If I could go back other degrees that interest me are (still) Education but maybe at the College level versus elementary or high school, or a Dietitian.
I have degrees in Engligh and Communications and currently work for a hedge fund… not at all what I thought I would be doing, but I love my job. I often think about what I would study if I could do college over again (since I had no idea what I was doing when I was in school)… would love to study nutition, or PT, or political science, or public health, or public policy. Ha, I have a lot of interests I guess….
Ohhh I would definitely do nutrition or exercise science…..after 4 years and a fashion marketing degree, I’m enrolled at the institute for integrative nutrition, and studying to be a certified personal trainer–which is great, but having that 4 year degree in either of those obviously would have been helpful!
I originally went to school for accounting (bleh!) before transferring, but I always wanted to be a teacher (following in my moms footsteps). I am kind of glad I didn’t. I don’t know that I could deal with minimal downtime and bathroom breaks! LOL
Like you, I graduated with a marketing-related degree (well, it was a Bachelor of Business Admin, but my specialization was Brand Communication) and if I could choose something totally different, it’d be something in the nutrition and wellness field – maybe a dietitian, nutritionist, or even something kinesiology-based. I need to live another life after this one to fulfill these dreams!! 🙂
Julie, thank you SO MUCH for posting this today! Due to the fact that I have just decided to COMPLETELY switch my career due to an opportunity that dropped into my lap…. I can SO appreciate this post. Having gone to school for Accounting and becoming a CPA I had always sort of regretted not doing anything with my other undergrad degree of Broadcast Journalsim. I’ve been tossing and turning for quite a few nights now, but finally decided to follow my heart. In part due to a commencement address given by Steve Jobs before he passed away that he delivered to Stanford University in 2005. If you google it, you can come across the text version… and let me tell you IT IS AMAZING. In fact it also mirrors when you decided to leave your job and pursue your love of blogging… anyway I am rambling…. but I adore your blog and just wanted to thank you for this post today! Another reason that made me feel like I did the right thing!
I got my degree in Business because I had no idea what I wanted to do and thought it would be universal. I minored in Sociology which was more what I was interested in and luckily I went to a liberal arts school so I got to take a lot of interesting electives. Now that I’m in my career and I’ve figured out what I love doing, I sort of wish I’d majored in Communications.
I’m hoping to start my Masters in Non-profit Leadership next fall so the Business degree definitely helps me, it was just so boring in those classes!
Do you have an arsenal of bad pics of me, or what?! :0)
I would totally go back and get my degree in foreign language education and have studied abroad.
Dietician would be good, if only I didn’t suck at science!
I am 26 and still perusing my Bachelors because I couldn’t make up my mind. Then I left college to work in the “real world”. Now all these years later I am going back, with a much clearer picture on what I want to do.
As a kid, I wanted to be a teacher, but when I got to high school and college my interests shifted. I’m currently in law school, but honestly I don’t see myself being a traditional lawyer. I love writing would like to use my law degree to pursue some kind of career in writing.
I have a degree in Biology and I never doubted it. I loved all my classes, especially the really nerdy upper level ones! But I am so interested in a variety of things. I wish I could get a bunch of degrees, but it is so darn expensive and time consuming. Here are some job ideas for my next life: chef, yacht stewardess, kitchenware store owner, daquiri shack on the beach owner, real estate agent, professional closet organizer.
I finished my business degree with a major in marketing in January 2011. I thought I could make this career work, but I dread the business world. If I could go back, I would become a registered dietician – no doubt about it.
I’m in the process of changing careers right now. I’m going towards the fitness/nutrition industry and (hopefully) starting my masters in health promotion soon! It’s never too late!
I know it’s a huge shift, but I started college as a Fine Arts major and changed to pre-pharmacy! Eight years later I was a pharmacist. Now I love my pharmacy job, but I still do art on the side. I think if I could have been assured of a stable job I would have stayed with art, but I’m too risk-averse to take my chances in that field.
Great post! Like you, I graduated with an Advertising degree but I have never actually had a job in it. I started with Sales but have since moved to Business Development for a technology company – I feel like it’s everything I loved about sales minus everything I didn’t like. I do love my job but I also have many other passions I’d like to pursue – particularly surrounding heath and nutrition! That’s great Julie that you’ve been able to take the plunge at such a young age. The first step is actually knowing what you’re passions even are and you went ahead and acted on it. Thanks for being such an inspiration! 😀
I find these types of questions really complicated for me to answer, mainly because I have no answer. I majored in chemistry in college and work in my field. I enjoy what I do and find the work challenging, but I don’t think it’s a dream job. What would I do otherwise? I have no idea. At all. I have interests, but not enough I’d want them to be a career. I do think I may get my MS in analytical chem, only because I sort of miss school, it’ll be paid for, and I like using fancy, scientific instruments.
I’m in high school right now, so i appreciate this post. I am very much into law/politics. I know what your thinking. BOR-ING! For some super weird reason, i get a kick out of it. Also business and personal finances intrigue me. I would LOVE to manage someone’s money- despite the fact that i can’t mine very well. That wasn’t the best ad for personal finace advisor, now was it? But i guess if anything else appealed to me, i guess it would have to be cosmetics and marketing them. And trying them. Please take me AVON! Now off to order some wants (NEEDS) from the AVON magazine i got yesterday
Very interesting! I’m finishing a master’s in accounting right now, and I’ve realized I don’t want to be an accountant. I’ll be going back for my PhD in experimental (research) psychology next year.
During college I had to decide between two grad school options: law school or vet school. I chose the law school track my sophomore year and never looked back. I still don’t know if it was the right choice, but I’m coming to terms with being an attorney who happens to reeaaaaalllllly love animals. 🙂
I really have no idea what I want to be! I think I will go into teaching though 🙂
This is a HUGE topic these days! I don’t think one of my friends work in the area that they have a degree in, including myself. It’s crazy. I started with journalism, then realized I liked writing as a hobby more so, then went to Health and Phys Ed, then graduated with Sports Management. Yet I currently work in Marketing. Everyday I think about if I majored in the right degree, if I should have stuck with my original plan, if I should go back for something else. But each thing that I experience is adding a different type of value I suppose. My dream job is coaching college softball. And I am still on the hunt for it, and will never give up.
All the breaks teachers get???? LOL I love how some people still think teachers “get all these breaks.” Most work 12 hour days….and go home to correct papers, etc. Weekends are always filled with school work and “summers off” are not 3 months “off” like some people believe. We are in and out of our classrooms all summer and when we aren’t, we’re spending OUR OWN MONEY to purchase classroom supplies that our schools cannot afford due to budget issues. I can’t think of any other profession that gets paid as little as teachers do and spend hundreds of dollars each year for their job.
Sorry this response was supposed to be to the comment below!
Amen!
Like you, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public relations (major was Communication with a minor in English) and thought I would head straight into the corporate world and do PR for some company. I interned at Subaru and loved it, but took some health communication classes my senior year and absolutely loved them! Therefore, after graduating, I went on to pursue my master’s degree in public health. I now work for a state health department in the maternal and child health division and absolutely love it. However, if I could do it over again, I would want to be a:
1. Pharmacist
2. Registered Nurse or Nurse Practitioner
3. Teacher (I would love having all the breaks they get!)
4. Engineer
5. General Practitioner (Doctor) in a rural area
All the breaks teachers get???? LOL I love how some people still think teachers “get all these breaks.” Most work 12 hour days….and go home to correct papers, etc. Weekends are always filled with school work and “summers off” are not 3 months “off” like some people believe. We are in and out of our classrooms all summer and when we aren’t, we’re spending OUR OWN MONEY to purchase classroom supplies that our schools cannot afford due to budget issues. I can’t think of any other profession that gets paid as little as teachers do and spend hundreds of dollars each year for their job.
I so agree with you Megan. This is my first year teaching and I can’t tell you how much money I’ve already spent and how many weekends I have so much I want to do for my classes I am not even catching up on laundry! I always feel like there is something more I could be doing for my classes, I could work for 12 hours, 7 days a week, and still have things that could be done. I think your comment is awesome and so true. So many people have wrong pictures of what teaching actually entails. Not only am I always busy but on my days off, but I am also always worrying about my students who may not get 3 meals a day during the weekends, who don’t have a stable home environment, and who I wish i could help more. Well said.
I agree! Teaching is not full of breaks! I’d much rather have my nights/weekends free year-round, then have about 1.5/2 months off! To each their own though. 🙂
Interesting question! I love being a teacher and knew since I was 10 that this is what I wanted to do. That being said, it wasn’t until I was already deep into college that I realized I was passionate about other things too. For instance, photography. I don’t know much about it, but would love to learn. Also, writing, which thankfully I get to express on my blog. Finally, being a personal trainer. I think I would absolutely pursue that if teaching for whatever reason fell through.
I got the degree (s) I wanted to!! I have degrees in exercise sciences, nutrition science, health and wellness promotion (B.S., M.S, and minors)– and am a certified health coach. I LOVE what I do.
I think it could’ve been fun to be a dancer (I started at college as a ballet major), do business relations, German, or public speaking work if I went back again.
Love the colorful lunch!!
I’m in accounting in school right now, but after I graduate and start working and if I decide it’s not for me, I’m going to try and do a degree in nutrition and personal training. This is a back up plan, though it’s about a million times more exciting than accounting.
There are just some days where I have to remind myself, if accounting doesn’t work out, there’s something else for me!
I’m a marketing major and LOVE it but for the longest time when I was younger I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I still kind of do, but not as much as I want to be a marketer. And a job I’ve always thought would be fun but that is not ideal for me was to open my own cupcake shop! Id like to do something in that vein and maybe open a bed and breakfast when I retire! Good way to stay social and creative once im old! ;p
I have a Bachelors in Nursing and work as an RN. I like my job but… I live in Manhattan and many times wish I worked in finance. Yes, even in these times. It’s pretty much all anyone talks around here. Plus working “regular” hours would be nice.
Agreed! I’m in the same situation. 🙂
Haha yeah…fingers crossed for day shift soon 🙂
I am 24 and still figuring out what the heck I want to do – and it will probably involve graduate school for something totally different than my undergrad (which was English).
But I’m mostly here to say that you never have to go back in time – my mom got her graduate degree in her 40s and completely changed careers, and my dad went from engineering to law in his late thirties (and both of them were working and raising me to boot!)
You’re never too old to start something new – evidenced by this guy:http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=4767
Love this comment!
i have a degree in fashion. i wish i went into something like computer programming…
I think I definitely would have picked a different career/major if I could go back in time. I actually want to go back to school again to study exercise science or dietetics.
That’s a very interesting topic! I guess I’d like to try other jobs because I’m very curious and sometimes I’d like to “taste” other things. But too bad you can only do one job at a time! ^^
I have a degree in nursing, but I just decided to go back to finish my undergrad sciences so I can go into medical school. I don’t really enjoy my job, and have always, always wanted to be a physician!
I don’t think you’re ever too old to change your career or try something new! I mean, how many of us really know in our early 20’s what we want to do for the rest of our lives?!
i am a school counselor too. i work at the elem level. yay for no fall/spring scheduling hell. i love what i do just NOT where i work. today was especially awful…had to physically restrain the same child 4 times. i could also do without all the political BS in the school systems.