As seniors start sending in college applications, the decision of what to major in comes up. Although there’s a lot of pressure to pick a career that makes the most money, following your passion is arguably more important.
Senior, Stella Whitham, is interested in making bank and hearing the juicy gossip. She aspires to be a high end divorce lawyer to make up to $900 an hour after she builds up her reputation in the field.
“I’m thinking about getting an English or history degree,” Whitham says. “Then getting a law degree after.”
Whitham has only been interested in this career since May, but thinks, “ it’s a good combination that’ll make me a lot of money to fund the lifestyle I want, but also something I can enjoy.”
Although all the years of school will add up, Whitham plans to look for scholarships, so she doesn’t end up with too much debt. She is one of many that are following a career passion, but she still hopes to incorporate making bank while pursuing passion.
Finn Rubin, who has already committed to play volleyball at Loyola University, took a different approach while deciding what to study.
“ I was looking through the degrees Loyola offers and I saw medical sales,” Rubin explains. “That led me down a rabbit hole of research.”
He thinks that a job in medical sales would be fun because of the ability to travel, but he plans to go pro for volleyball and have the degree on the side.
Even though Rubin plans to play pro volleyball, he still thinks that medical sales is interesting and says, “ it’s not a scumbag sales job, and the pay is very good.”
Rubin’s plan is to focus on playing volleyball, and later in his career, he hopes to coach. Rubin is taking a sport focused approach to his future plans, and following his athletic passion.
Another Senior at TWHS, Thomas Hayward, hopes to pursue his environmental passion and study environmental geology or sustainability studies. His love for the outdoors has always been apparent, but after taking AP Environmental Science junior year, it showed him that he could be outside as a profession.
“I will need to go to college and get at least a bachelor’s,” Hayward explains. “ I’ll likely look for research projects, internships, and part time jobs that relate to what I’m interested in.”
When looking into career fields in the environmental space, there are a plethora of different things you can do.
“I probably want to go into research and project management,” Hayward says. “I hope to get a minor in communication so I am able to educate people on my research.”
Hayward isn’t in it for the money, but instead to explore a connection with the natural world.
During high school most of us believe we should follow the money for our future careers, but why not pursue passion and possibly still make bank.