Life's Ambitions as High School ends

[Jason Axelrod]

For the past three years of high school, I generally early on pushed off the responsibility of beginning to decide what I want to do in life. Not only because I didn't want to think about another four more years of schooling or more right after high school, but because I hadn't the slightest idea of what I would want to do...

In my sophomore year, I started thinking about 3D animation. I love cg cinematic sequences... and I thought it would be cool to be a part of that... but as the years have gone on I've found it harder and harder to sit at a computer constantly doing nothing but clicking and typing (specifically in experiences with Photoshop and SMAX). It'd be cool to be a part of producing those beautifully rendered scenes and if I was good enough I bet I could even start my own long-term projects at home. But unfortunately, it never struck a hard chord in me... I never felt like I really wanted to do it...

Right now I have no clue what I want to do. Doing voice overs is something I thoroughly enjoy... something I could definitely see myself being happy doing as a life career, even if it is a second one as I have read a lot that's posted around here about 'going pro'. I just don't know if it's worth acting on. Should I major in vocal performance? Audio engineering and design? I don't know... and I'm leaning toward an unfortunate no... which I guess gives me my answer.

But that leaves me the undying question of What? What career goals can I have aside from a well-paying salary? What am I going to do if I graduate, go off to college to become a 3d animator, wind up working 80+ hour weeks with little passion for what I'm working for? Or if I graduate and don't go anywhere?

Most people have a FALLBACK plan by now. I don't have a plan at all, and it's really bugging me out. My parents are constantly bugging me about the two schools I have been looking at for the whole 3d animation deal, and are actually constantly providing negative comments about them in order to get me to go to the same college my brother went to, for what purpose I do not understand...

I don't know what I'm doing... I don't know what I want to do... and I don't even know what I CAN do. The only possible thing I can come up with in my head is a video game beta tester, and god knows how hard it is to get THAT kind of job. Besides, even video games have begun to slip out of my interests as well. Even though I have confidence in my acting abilities, I wouldn't have the posture to be an actor. As for voiceovers, I guess I really couldn't know for sure until I tried, but not only do I lack confidence in my ability to break into it professionally... but I'm kind of afraid of trying. It's weird to say it... but the thought of me in a recording booth is just the scariest thought in the world. In my room with my own setup, everything is controlled... I can do as many takes as I feel necessary to get it perfect... and if I stepped into a recording booth and couldn't deliver I would feel so ashamed. I already displease myself enough due to my inclination to being a perfectionist when it comes to this hobby... which is a shame really. I guess even though I may embarrass myself, I should stop trying to get things perfect... and just let it be what I can do. I'm always striving for something outside of my range in my own personal time... thinking with practice I'll be able to master it. Unfortunately I can't choose how my voice works, I can only harness it... right? I don't know, I'm confused about a lot of things.

I kind of got off subject there (sorry about the big paragraph too). I'm just really frustrated lately. The end of the school year is coming, and I have no plans ahead of me... and it really sucks. I don't know whether to follow my dream or follow my head...

Well I'm out of stuff to say.

[Kat Avery]

I want to be a voice actress.

Fallback would be fashion design, but I -will not- settle for that until I've put my all into becoming a voice actress.

[pyromaster]

Yeah, I know exactly how you feel Axel. I'm actually going through a similar dilema, as I'm just not finding many careers I wanted to get into before quite interesting anymore. And it really sucks because I'm gonna be graduating my self pretty soon, and I dont have a clear idea of what I wanna do. But you know I've decided, instead of stressing over what career is "right" for me, I'm just gonna see what makes me happy. I have a big interest in voice acting my self, and I'll definately go for it to see how things work out. But the important thing is, as much as I dont like it, I'll have a back up plan. One of my friends suggested me to get into Sound Engineering too, as it's related to the whole voicing gig. The only problem with that is the job prospects of Sound Engineering are quite low, so I dont know if it'll be a really demanding career in the years to come. So I'm actually reconsidering that now. But of course you can definately go for it if you really enjoy it, cause I'm not implying at all that you cant be financially stable with that, it's just that I have my doubts about it.

Anyway the important thing is that you have a good back up plan, one in which you can always get into if things dont work out with voice acting. For instance myne is Accounting, and even though I dont like it as much as voice overs, it's something I could see my self doing.

Voice Overs is definately a lucrative career if you're fortunate, but if you're not then you'll really struggle financially. So think of some other career, try taking more of the open courses in school, and see what ya like.

[Merr]

The secret is...

You don't have to know what you want to do!

It's really just that simple. Even if you go to college and decide to major in graphic design, that won't prevent you from accomplishing anything else. You could still go to med school, you could still join the peace corp, you could still become anything.

Look at this way, if you only started thinking about career paths when you were a sophomore, that's only been what, three years? That means you've still got four years of college to decide what you want to do, and by then you may have changed your mind completely.

So don't get stressed over it, because when the time comes you'll know what you want to do.

[Cefaclor]

Good times XD

Yeah I remember freaking out and stuff. I just looked at my highest marks and chose that degree. So I chose Bsc. The thing is Ive only begun. I mean after Bsc. is when I get to decide.. medicine,dentistry,pharmacy,dietetics etc. etc. so in other words theres a long ways to go.. getting into uni was just a small step... so much more studying to do... so yeah Im not freaking out nymore.. god help us all.

[Fernie]

Looking back, I don't think I know anyone who actually carried out whatever ambitions they had during high school. Maybe I haven't kept in touch with enough of my friends to truthfully make that statement but that's what I've observed. It's been three or four years since I got out of High School and I've only very recently gotten a grasp of what I want to be doing once I'm done with my education. And that's still wishful thinking for the most part, likely to be assisted by some sort of a real job.
I'm nowhere near where I thought I would be ten, five, or even two years ago. I suppose this sort of advice wouldn't apply to everyone, especially those who need to be in control of every aspect of their lives and those who try to plot out their future years in advance, but I say just go wherever life takes you. You're still young and without major responsibilities, whatever you were meant to do will eventually come to you.

[Taryn]

It's not a problem not knowing at this point in your life. When you go to college, especially if you go to one with a very liberal cirriculum, you can take classes in whatever you want. You can discover what you like. You might fall in love with something you hadn't given a second thought before. It's okay. I go to the University of Rochester where, aside from a writing course and two-three courses in the two areas you're not majoring in (out of Humanities, Social Science, and Natural Science), you don't have requirements. Just the requirements of your major, i.e. this many credits in English for an English major. It's something that works really well for me because it gives you the chance to only take classes that you WANT to. And if you think that would work well for you, you might want to look into colleges such as UR. I'm pretty sure there are others out there, I'm not just shilling for my school. ;)

[Jason Axelrod]

I get what you're all saying, and I agree. I'm not a very organized person when it comes to my schedule and planning out stuff. I guess I was just brought up to think I should know by now. I had always wanted to take a year off before college and travel a little bit... take it easy, find what really makes me tick, but I forgot about that. Your posts reminded me of it. I don't know if I'll do that, but it's certainly a possibility.

I guess though, this is also my fault. I'm a very lazy person sometimes, and I don't really want to look at colleges right now. Just feels like it's all creepin' up out of nowhere.

You guys are right though, I guess I gotta just take it easy and see where I go and what comes to me. And when I do decide to look into something, I'm definitely going to take that into account, Taryn.

[Coffeeman]

Word to the wise; those people with a fallback plan?

They won't get to where they want to be.

Well, maybe one or two.

Just get to what you can do, and aim for enjoyment. Not telling you to become a hedonist, but quite simply...

If you enjoy something, then that's something you can pursue. If you don't enjoy something, but it leads to something you'll enjoy, then you can pursue. If there's no space for enjoyment, then there's no point to pursuing.

[Matt Alan]

Yo, Axel! How about Network Admin?

Or, make your major 3-D illustration with a minor in acting, or theatre. Or heck, join a local theatre group while going to college. Take a public speaking course. If you truly want to do voiceovers, but don't like being in the booth, confidence is the thing you need.

And like people above said, no reason why you can't change your mind.

As for me, I'm head to Buffalo, going to attempt one year of college with Acting as my major, hold down a job at Booksamillion or somewhere similar and try and launch a VA career. College isn't really that important to me.

[ClymAngus]

Wear sunscreen.

http://www.andyholloway.com/awesome.mp3

[Henageshi]

I plan to stay in college for all four years. My major right now is Art ed but I may change to either graphic design or studio. I thought about staying for a few more years and getting my Masters but that's just a thought. Don't exactly know where I wannna move or live.. I really want an animation job at Disney or some other great place like that. If I could accomplish that it would be amazing but if not ...no big deal. I really want to get married and start a family more than anything. And if that's all I do for the rest of my life, staying home raising kids I'll be pretty happy. ^_^

[Nanuri]

4 years at a private university (my poor parents are gonna have to take out like a 3rd mortgage or something) then law school.

After that, who knows?

[Tolmek]

I know you've received a lot of advice by now, but I thought I'd toss in my two cents. I'm very similar in personality. I am hideously organized yet insidiously lazy. (The organization makes me efficient so I can be lazy by getting something done faster. It's crazy, but it works.)

When I was looking at colleges, I was sure I wanted to be a Physics major. Once I chose a college, I was dead sure I wanted to be a Music/Vocal Performance major. (That's "singing" in complicated terminology. Crazy college course names.) After about two years of college, my major changed again to Computer Science. I finished off with a Bachelor's of Arts in Computer Science. More importantly though, college is where I started to work at the university's radio station. That's where I discovered there was a career that went along with something I had always enjoyed, reading aloud. Since then, I've worked towards that goal. I take acting classes as I can find them. I'm working on finding a good studio in the area to make a professional demo. And, I'm looking at agencies in the area to see where I might submit said demo when it's ready. My current job is being the manager of a locally-owned video game store. A job I will have to quit if I find an agency to represent me as it does not grant me a very flexible schedule. I just tried out for the radio station on a whim because it sounded like fun. Now, it's influencing my career path. Don't worry about not knowing what you want to do yet. Just enjoy college and try different things. You'll find something. ^_^

[Deiji]

I know EXACTLY how you feel! I'm 19 and i finished school at 16, since i live in england, and i STILL don't know what i want to do! Since i left school, my life in education has been a little chaotic. I stayed in sixth form for a year because i didn't pass my exams (because something bad happened at the time of my exams) and i didn't have the qualifications to get into college or get any good work. But after the year in sixth form, i went to college and studied Multimedia because i still hadn't made my mind up. Multimedia was good because you spent around 2 months on each project, which was based on different areas in media (web design, filming, animation, game design, digital art, html programming, etc). That was a 2 year course but just as my 2nd year was about to start, we had to move away. I tried to stay with my grandparents, who lived just 7 miles from the college, but that didn't work out since they wern't easy to get along with. So i had to give up my course, which was a huge waste because my teachers all said i had many talents and even they were sad to see me go. When i moved, i was forced to get work because i when i turned 19, i had to pay toward housekeeping. So a few months after we moved i got a job at McDonalds, which was all i thought i could really get since i didn't have any qualifications except 4 c's in art.
This year i tried to get into college (since i quit my job cus i had no friends and the manager i had was racist toward me and kinda bullied me, which caused so much stress that i became sick) but everything went wrong and although i apparently had a place, the college computer messed up and my place was taken by someone else. Now i'm on damn benefits, which is really annoying. At the moment i'm trying to plan easy ways of making money until i actually get qualifications to get a career that i want.
Something i really want to do though when i have more money is to move to america. I used to think "oh, it'd be nice to live there.." but now i've made up my mind and i definetly want to move there.
But anyway, yes, i'm 19 and i still don't have a career, which is kinda depressing xD So try not to end up in a situation like mine ;P

[lionfayt]

I still am in school middle school to be correct I know I still have awhile to think about wat I want to be when I graduate,but right now I want to go into the profession of cartooning. I started out doing manga cartoons with the help of my brother,he likes anime and drawing anime,but now i'm going more to bugs bunny sort of looney tunes sort of drawing cartoons. My fall back options right now are voice acting or being a chef or being a mechanic.
But I dont know where the mechanic part came in cause I forgot.

[HiLoPe]

Yeah, I know how you feel; I went through the same
process ;-) Plus my parents pushed me a lot, which
didn't make it easier to decide. But it kept me thinking
about my wishes - and finally I came to a conclusion.

I now study Medicine (dunno what it's called in English)
and I'm happy with it, although I was not convinced
of it from the beginning.

Just do something that seems to be most fitting to
your character, and if it's only a hint of something you
maybe want to do. But don't waste too much time!

Hope I could help ya a bit ;-)

[Matt Cruea]

You just graduated high-school, man. Does adulthood start now? Sort of, but you still have a lot of time to shape yourself into who you want to be.

Chillax!

[Komichi]

I joined a clown camp as a rite of passage.

[ClymAngus]

And I bet you can now blind a man with a blunt custard pie at thirty paces. Soda stream of DEATH!!! YAAAA! SAI! <squirt>. Lethal, dead before he hit the ground. Cut down in his prime by a fruity topping thrown by a homicidal clowniac........

[Lady Plantagenet]

You have lots of time to decided. In most cases, they give you the first two years of college to decide, anyway.

I just graduated from a four year college with a Bachelor degree in Business Management. And I am currently in Graduate School. At the end of this coming semester, I will graduate with a MBA (Masters in Business Adminstration) in General Business. I picked business because I did not know what to do at the time and after all this time that is still the case. Everything is business so it gives me a wide range of different jobs to do. And, having a Master's Degree only puts your foot more in the door when applying for a job.

[Konosuke]

i have either two things i want in life. Own a hobbies store in the upper states or do something with computer's. But what, exactly, i have noooooo clue v.v

[White Rose Assassin]

In high school, I knew I wanted to work in the broadcasting industry. I kept my goals open and vague. Broadcasting means anything from television, radio, the web, and more. I was interested in all of the above.

I'm still majoring in Broadcasting right now. I've known this goal since the fourth grade. I'm just about to apply for internships. Still waiting.

As far as fallback plans go, I am minoring in Asian American Studies and Theatre. I know, they're not much for a fallback plan. I took Asian American Studies just to know more about myself. Theatre is just to gain more self confidence. My broadcasting major does allow Marketing / Bussiness classes as part of the major.

I suppose my fallback is the bussiness world of public relations. It still goes hand in hand with broadcasting. As long as I'm living in the bay area and working for a major broadcasting corporation that can make ends meet, I'm happy.

[ig.]

My father always told me that if a person doesn't make something happen, something will happen to them. I suppose that's a good a mindset as any in regards to the future...if you decide to mull on that most intangible thing...

[NG]

I'm in ninth grade right now and I knew from last year what I planned to do---yes...I'm one of those people who gets stressed over things o.o--- I plan on going to college somewhere in Houston, hopefully University of Houston. I want a major in theatre and a minor in photography (whether or not that's a real minor *probably not*, I don't know). I'm thinking about being a proffesional ballerina, but I haven't decided whether or not I like dance enough to work that hard o.O I'd like to work for ADV Films - hopefully, I'll be good enough by college >.< *doubt it* and that's all I have planned out so far. O.O *stress level goes up*

[Pombar]

Probably wanna do something Journalism related, though my *dream* as such is to be a fiction author. I wouldn't mind doing something Classical Civilisations related though, Archeology, Lecturing(or 'payed ranting' xD) or even teaching.
Of course, doing the odd Voice Acting thing every now and again would be another dream come true :D