If You Still Don’t Know What To Do In University: This Is For You.

If you’re around the age of 17/18, you’re probably hearing all your friends tell you about which university they’re applying for and what course(s) they want to pursue. You’re probably thinking to yourself: “Damn, I wish I knew what I wanted to do…”

You look around and you see your schoolmates rushing their personal statements, frantically applying for internships and searching up the application requirements for various university courses.

Yet, there you are, not knowing where to start because you can’t start if you don’t know where you’re going.

When your friends or relatives ask you where you’re headed after high school, you shoot them a blank stare and manage to utter a few words: “I’m still not sure.” They smile at you nervously and offer you a slight consolation. You think to yourself, “Oh no, is it not normal that I still don’t know?”

I understand what you’re feeling because I was there.

I remember feeling a sense of panic and uncertainty as I felt the surmounting pressures building around me. It was as if the world needed an answer for me at that very moment. It was as if I needed to be able to decide then and there what I wanted to do for the next 4–40 years of my life.

But the fact of the matter was that I didn’t know. No matter how much I tried to search, most university courses simply did not interest me. And no matter how much I thought about it, I truly did not know what I wanted to do.

Let me tell you something: 3 years later, after serving National Service, I still wasn’t exactly sure what I want to do.

Let’s go back to just after receiving my IB results. The first question to myself was “What now?” I felt as lost as ever. But having done relatively well in IB, I had many options open to me. Having many options ironically doesn’t make it easier, but who can complain?

So, for many weeks, I asked myself what I wanted to do in university. But I didn’t really go anywhere with that question so I decided to ask myself: “What don’t I want to do?”

That Brings Me To the 1st Tip: Process of Elimination

There was much more progress with this question because I basically eliminated between 80–90% of the courses. Could I imagine myself to be an engineer? Nope. Do I want to be a programmer? Nope. Do I have enough interest to become a data scientist? Nope. I was down to a few courses which were more of “I’m not sure”.

Having narrowed my options to only Economics and Business, I was able to research in greater depth regarding these two courses. I looked in to the modules that were offered, the requirements for graduation and the career opportunities that arose from both. I also looked across universities to examine how they varied. I can’t imagine how tedious and time consuming this would be if I had to do such in depth research for a large range of courses. I believe I wouldn’t have been able to make a decision if I had done as I would have had decision fatigue.

Take some time to think about what you can’t imagine yourself doing, not only in school but also as a career. Many students fall in to a trap known as Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) when they try to keep their options open. While having more options necessarily bad, you should be clear about when its time to draw the line. Usually, you know when you’re FOMO-ing when you aren’t actually interested in the course or the career opportunities.

I eventually chose to enrol in to the faculty of Business where I am majoring in Accountancy. Turns out, I don’t really enjoy it and perhaps don’t think being an accountant is for me. You see, I didn’t choose Accountancy because I had any particular interest in it, but because of process of elimination and due to its “practicality”. Before you start criticizing step 1: process of elimination, hear me out.

I don’t actually regret choosing Accountancy because it was the best decision of a course at that point in time. The skills I am learning in Accountancy is definitely useful, especially to help understand important skills such as how financial statements work and how managers make decisions. However, having dipped my toes and experiencing what an actual accountants’ job is like, I am more certain than ever that it is not something I want to do.

This Brings Us to My 2nd Tip: Decide First, Decide Again Later

While making the decision regarding which course I should enroll in, I heard a very common advice that Accountancy is a better choice because it provides me with more practical and applicable skills. It is also known to be a “specialised” career that can offer more career prospects. While I am not denying any of these and am grateful for the advice, these were all general advice and rightfully so. No one truly knows what your ambitions are, what strengths and weaknesses you have and whether you will really enjoy the course. To a large extent, you probably don’t know yourself.

So what do you do when you’re not sure? You try it!

If I had not experienced the Accountancy course, I would not have known that it doesn’t suit me and that I don’t envision myself to be an accountant for the rest of my life. Why? Because I didn’t know what accountants did or what they learnt! But having gone through some of it (though, not a majority of it), I have a better understanding and thus can make a more informed decision!

As my mother always tells me, “No experience is wasted”. I certainly don’t feel like this opportunity is wasted not only because of the skills I have picked up but also being able to make a more informed decision about whether I want to stay in this course. It also made me realise that being an accountant is probably not want I want to do for the next phase of life.

So if you are stuck between one or two choices, you can choose the one you are more inclined towards, experience it, then decide again later on! The university that I am studying in, National University of Singapore, has a great system that allows you to transfer your credits over (only for certain situations though). So, for instance, if I wanted to change my specialisation, I can carry over the modules and grades that I have attained so far. In some cases, these will count under Unrestricted Electives (basically, modules you can choose) or in my case, core modules should I choose to remain in Business school.

Now To the Last Tip: Don’t Stress Too Much As It May Not Matter Anyways.

Having spoken to many adults, a common thing that I have heard is that people discover different things about themselves as they grow older, including what they want in their careers. This is especially prevalent in the new generation which sees a higher frequency and number of career switches. With the advent of social media and the internet, there are many more job opportunities available. Many of these jobs also have features that were not seen when our parents just started working, such as those that can be done remotely from home. This gives the newer generations more room for flexibilities in careers, giving them more opportunities to choose a career that fits their developments.

Furthermore, many jobs are starting to have fewer restrictions on the degrees that they require. This is of course, with the exception of doctors and lawyers which need a professional certificate. If I am not wrong, you don’t even need a university degree to be certain kinds of accountants (though you need a certificate from a registered body). This means that the university course you attend may not even matter as much, especially in the future.

Coupled with the fact that what you want now may not be what you want within the next 20–30 years, my take is that you should take your youth to explore more, especially if you aren’t really sure what career you want to partake in.

So you might be asking: What then is my journey?

The short answer is that life is too uncertain to know.

Things Change In a Blink of an Eye.

We never know what might change tomorrow. Our grandparents certainly didn’t know that we would be able to access a large database of information from a device as small as our palms.

They prepared to the best of their ability, for their time, at that present moment.

Life presents you many opportunities once you are open to receiving them.

Recently, I started a specialised IB tuition service in Singapore known as IB Lounge. It recruits IB graduates who have completed and excelled in the program to share the skills and knowledge they have learnt with the next generation of IB students. I realised this while thinking about my own personal IB journey and how I realised there was a lack of quality tutors for the IB program. Having once been an IB student, I struggled to find the external help I needed. I noticed that this was still a gap in the market as there aren’t many tutors who actually really understand the program and the demands of it. Apart from that, it is also my way of paying tribute to the teachers who have inspired me to never give up and to enjoy learning.

You see, the thing is that I would never have thought that I would have started IB Lounge 1 or 2 years ago. The opportunity came up and I seized it.

We are living in a different but great time whereby we have the opportunity to figure out what our passions are and build our careers around them. Take advantage of this by adopting a flexible mindset and be always eager to learn more about the world but more importantly, more about yourself. Only through doing this will you figure out what you actually want in life and therefore, make better decisions.

So don’t worry, there’s time for you to figure it out, even if it doesn’t feel like that.

“Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming. When nothing is certain, anything is possible”

― Mandy Hale