In most cases, careers are not always mapped one-to-one with academic majors; any major can prepare you for a number of different careers. Almost every career field includes people who majored in a wide range of academic fields. Need some examples?, try this:
Visit our Online Alumni Directory. Log in by creating a my.stolaf account or use existing my.stolaf account. Try doing a simple search by occupation, choosing anything in the “occupation” field. From the list of alums that results, click on each one and view what their majors were. Or, try a second search by setting occupation back to “Not Selected” and choose any major. From the list of alums who had that major, click on several and see what they are currently doing. You will be surprised at the variety!
This directory can be useful to find alums who are doing what you want to do so that you can contact them for the best advice on how to prepare for a certain occupational area. You can email them, call them, even meet with them to ask, “What are the best steps I can take that will lead me to this type of job?” including what majors might be most appropriate. This type of discussion is called an informational interview. Follow the link to find out more specifics on how to make your approach and what to ask.
For more concrete information on how a major can prepare you for a career:
- Link to O*NET, the Occupational Outlook Handbook or Iseek. Choose the career that interests you and read about the education and experience necessary to enter that field.
- Come in to the Piper Center and check out the books in our resource library that describe how different majors can prepare you for different jobs or career fields.