Chiarolanzio 1

Olivia Chiarolanzio

Mrs. Thomas

UWRT 1104

27 April 2017

Not As Easy As It Used to Be

Time as children was spent exploring our interests without any limits. With only our mild

interests to guide us, childhood is spent exploring and trying new things out. Whether that had

been guitar lessons that only lasted half a year, soccer camp during that one summer, or other

activities explored while on the journey of searching for just the right one that kept our interest.

However, now childhood is over, gone are the times of carefree exploration, and it's time to pick

a career that will sustain us throughout the rest of adulthood. Career is defined by the Merriam-

Webster Dictionary as a job or profession that someone does for a long time. That sounds like

the same process of picking a hobby as a child, except there are now more repercussions and this

decision is as important as ever in defining who you are for a majority of your life. Why has it

come down to this? Why the intense pressure to choose the perfect major? Researchers and

theorists explore the societal factors and pressures that determine why choosing a major and

career path is different from in the past, and why it is essential in todays modern times.

For decades, many American teenagers went to college to find themselves and then look

for a career, defined in conjugation with the term hippie culture, for that time period. Now the

age of hippie culture has shifted to corporate culture, thanks to the recession (Belkin).

Coined The Great Recession because it began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009,

followed by a global recession in 2009, making it the longest recession since World War II.

While there are many factors, the 2007-2009 recession is mostly blamed on the bursting of the
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housing bubble. Where in the early 2000s the real estate agencies and banks grossly inflated

housing prices to only later experience plummeting home prices. This resulted in thousands of

borrowers who couldnt pay off their loans (Koba). The recession resulted in falling stock prices,

high-interest rates, high unemployment rates, and loss of consumer confidence. Even my father,

who I remember in the past around this time, was talking to my neighbor about how he was

worried about the increasing gas prices and what it was going to be like financially when my

older sister and I started driving. He is a building contractor and during the recession, people

were scared to spend money and add additions onto their houses, which took a toll on his

business. The economy is still to this day experiencing a slow and painful climb from the hole

the recession dug. Graduates, especially who hoped to enter the job market, feel the

repercussions of the recession after graduating.

Furthermore, Wall Street journalist, Douglas Belkin, observes that college is no longer the

intellectual playground it used to be of freely exploring a number of career interests before

deciding which one to pursue. After the recession, because of the tough economy, many students

enter into college looking for a job from the first day. Observed from a number of randomly

chosen colleges nationwide, students were much more likely to declare a major in their freshman

year (Belkin). Many of the explanations for these societal pressures today starts before we even

get into college. Students are pressured to make their college major decision from early on. High

school is spent with the goal of getting into college, and to get in, often there needs to be a major

or career focus in mind. I spent most of my time throughout high school not knowing what I

wanted to do for the rest of my life. I had been told that that was okay, and you can decide

later, but I still felt an underlying pressure and urgency from those around me to decide what I

wanted to do. Getting ready to apply for colleges approached quickly and before I knew it, I was
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blindly taking college tours, often for the reason of them being acknowledged by others as good

schools. Then the time to apply for colleges was upon me. I decided to apply to the business

school without much experience of business in high school to confirm that that was a suitable

major for me. Many students who were pressured into choosing a major their first year ended up

switching majors, which increased their time spent in college, thus increasing the likelihood of

dropping out. Now some colleges are trying to push into a system whereby students are not

allowed to declare a major before their sophomore year. I believe this is a smart decision because

it allows students an ample amount of time to be introduced to other classes before they have to

decide what to pursue. While colleges are trying to provide more leeway for exploration of

interests in college, many students are still not able to break away from the societal pressures.

In addition to being pressured to know what they are going to do for the rest of their lives

from day one, students often cant afford additional years beyond the necessary four to explore

different opportunities. The College Board estimated Published tuition and fees rose about 3%,

[from 2014-2015], even though the government reports there has been basically no inflation in

the rest of the economy, adding, [this is] worse, because financial aid has not been keeping

pace with tuition hikes (Clark). Additionally, in 2016, Harvard's annual tuition and fees (not

including room and board) will set you back $45,278, more than 17 times the 1971-72 cost. If

annual increases had simply tracked the inflation rate since 1971, [2016s] tuition would be to

just $15,189 (Schoen). To sum up, this would be only six times the 1971-72 cost, versus, the 17

times the amount it is today. And while not all of us get the chance to go to Harvard, this statistic

can be translated in conjunction with other colleges around the nation that show a similar

difference in cost. While tuition is rising, people are forced to run after and keep up with the
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economy. This often results in a student being forced to pursue majors that might not generally

fit their interests.

Along with a rising tuition, and linked with money, the problem of student loans have

become commonplace in our society. The idea of finishing four years of college with an obscene

amount of student loans seems like something that just happens to everyone. Yet, is it necessarily

true that it is something everyone deals with? Of course not, but it is hard to ignore the 44.2

million Americans with student loan debt contributing to the $1.41 trillion dollar amount that is

still owed (U.S. Student Loan Debt Statistics for 2017). The Federal Reserve Bank of New

Yorks research and statistics group of microeconomics studies released that the $1.41 trillion

owed is about $620 billion more than the total U.S. credit card debt. In fact, the average Class

of 2016 graduate has $37,172 in student loan debt, up six percent from last year (U.S. Student

Loan Debt Statistics for 2017). And what's even more shocking is that there are more options

than ever for student debt to be paid. Between rising stock market, falling unemployment rate,

and even an increase in repayment programs from the Obama administration that limit monthly

payments to a percentage of earnings, it suggests that this societal problem should be getting

better. While it is true that there is more variety of repayment options nowadays, it does not

necessarily seem to be helping the problem. In March of 2016, the department of education

released that 7.9 million people had not made a payment on $121 billion in student loans for at

least nine months, a nearly 8 percent increase over the same period a year earlier (Douglas-

Gabriel). Based on this statistic, it seems that if anything, student loans are becoming

increasingly more difficult to pay. This increasing problem is becoming more of a reality for

students who are in college now. Something as daunting as this in our society can certainly sway

a student into choosing a career that is instead instantly financially beneficial upon graduation.
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Accordingly, if you have to pay the most to get the best, a familys background and

economic status have started to cause an increasing gap on missed opportunities between social

classes. Dr. Xia, is an assistant professor in the Decision Science and Managerial Economics

department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School, after receiving her Ph.D.

in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. After conducting a widespread survey

in the U.S., Dr. Xia concluded that If a family's socioeconomic status strongly influences a

student's expectations of future earnings, students from disadvantaged families may never have

the opportunity to know the actual return on higher education or the wages offered by certain

professions (Xia). Social status is causing an unequal playing field, where a student from a

disadvantaged family is not provided the same opportunities as students of another social status.

For instance, this would lead to students being denied the ability to take career paths they are

passionate about, as they are confined by their social class. Ultimately, todays society makes it

difficult to break out of those social classes, leaving the students future predetermined for them.

Often when a student is in a lower sociological class, the only option society offers to

assist them to progress further, is for them to achieve a high paying job. Dr. Xia reminds us that,

Previous studies found that business, engineering, and science majors are offered large wage

premiums, suggesting that many students may earn higher wages if they choose alternative

majors. After conducting her own study, from these previous studies, she extracts an estimate

that there is a 40% gap in annual earnings between college graduates who major in business and

those who major in humanities (Xia). Xia classifies humanity occupations as including:

communications, education, fine and applied arts, foreign languages, and theology. Even though

Dr. Xia exemplifies her findings with two very select majors, she asserts that there is a strong

incentive in our society to choose higher paying jobs even when account for socioeconomic
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classes. For example, when choosing a major, a student may decide to pursue an engineering

major over an education one because an engineering major offers almost twice the starting pay.

With things like student loans and struggling economy looking to greet at the end of college, why

would one not choose the engineering job? These are the types of ideas that our society is forging

within the mentality of future graduates.

On the other hand, instructors from Illinois State University conducted a study to

compare against previous studies that explored the major factors that influence students to

choose majors. Taken from multiple sources of study, it was found that the main factors include

sources of information and influence, job characteristics, fit and interest in the subject, and

characteristic of the major/degree. Within the factors, information and influences included such

preconceived notions as parental pressure and parental occupation. The outside study shows that

this preconceived notion is not as expected as society makes it out to be, earning 4% due to

parental pressure. Job characteristics include considering the financial aspects of a job such as

starting salary, high earning potential, benefits, etc. This factor resulted in a surprising 7% who

picked their major based on its earning potential versus the 68.4% of the respondents who chose

their major because of the interest in the field. In sum, the survey concluded that the order of

importance for all students: 1. Match with Interests, 2. Course/Major Attributes, 3. Job

Characteristics, 4. Financial Considerations, 5. Psycho/Social Benefits, and 6. Information

Search (Beggs 381). The authors praise the high level of importance to the genuine interest in

the career. On the one hand, I agree with the study that this is what the results provided. But on

the other hand, I still insist that the negative outside societal pressures are still weighing on the

minds of a majority of deciding graduates. I believe that the study didnt include a wide selection

of diverse participants and that of a national level. With the condition of our life being prescribed
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for us by society, finances are something that students are forced to remind themselves of when

choosing a major. Optimistically, the study does provide hope and promise that students are

becoming generally aware that choosing a major they are generally interested in is more

important than monetary values.

Conclusively, a career should be chosen based on ones genuine interest, and not swayed

by societal pressures. Nicholas Lore is a social scientist, Wall Street Journal national top-10

bestseller, and originator of career coaching and founder of Rockport Institute, an organization

that guides mid-career changers and younger clients to practical new careers. Lore observes that

people place too high a value on the external rewards of a job, like money, prestige, and power.

While these can be important, he said, a jobs intrinsic nature the types of tasks you do, the

skills these require and the perceived meaning and value of your work are more vital to a

sense of fulfillment (Korkki). Take away the greed factors and there wont be anything left to

look at. I believe careers should be chosen with interest in mind first, then let the other factors

follow. An ideal job should be one in which you enjoy immensely and an added bonus is you

also get paid to perform it.

Along the same lines, the physiological aspects of making a decision as big as choosing a

major can be explored. A meta-analysis of America's biggest regrets, by professors and

psychologists Roese and Summerville, revealed the top six biggest regrets in life included

education at the top, followed by career at second (Roese and Summerville). Showing that

this idea of choosing something that will carry on throughout a long period of our life is

something to take seriously and to choose without regrets. It is easy to get burnt out with a job

that you have no genuine interest in. Proper due diligence up front could save a lifetime of

regrets.
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This idea of regret is further addressed through a TedTalk by Larry Smith, a professor of

economics at the University of Waterloo in Canada who coaches his students to find careers that

they will truly love. Often people have interests that they pick and choose to delve into but dont

have passion. He characterizes them as missed opportunities. That people keep making up

more and more excuses, like relationships and children, that get in the way of their dream

careers. He acknowledges that there is nothing wrong with wanting these things, but he asks

why can't you have all of it, including the career? and answers, because you are afraid

(Smith). There is a fear of pursuing our passions and failing at them. I translated this to the fear

of committing to a career that is deemed unstable under societys eyes, and society ends up being

right. While I generally enjoyed all the points he had to make, Smith has an obvious whimsical

approach to this thinking that seems to ignore the outside pressures of society, I summarized his

message as a lesson that its okay to follow our dreams because then we can look back on our

decisions without any regrets.

In conclusion, college is a valuable tool to achieve a career, when used correctly. It is not

as easy to freely pick a career, as it used to be. The lifestyle and expectations of college are now

built around this idea that students are expected to choose which major they will study from day

one. While some might say that you don't have to pick the perfect career path your first try, for

most, now within our society, it is the only option to choose a career path first try. With

contributing factors like tuition costs and student loan debt rising, students are not able to afford

to stay in college any longer than necessary. The increasing societal pressures often overpower

and persuade students to give up their passions and dreams. Rather than let these pressures

override your true interests, it is important to choose what we passionately want to do, without

any regrets.
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Reflection: I went into the meeting not very confident about what I had. I was struggling but the

others helped me determine what was missing and what i could add to my piece. I also had some

questions that I wasnt sure about, like adding background, and we determined that it would

strengthen and add context to my overall paper. I do think I need to add more of my voice, but I

am having trouble balancing that with the facts.

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Works Cited

Beggs, Jeri Mullins, et al. "Distinguishing the Factors Influencing College Students' Choice of

Major." College Student Journal, vol. 42, no. 2, Jun 2008 Part A, pp. 381-394.

EBSCOhost. 25 Mar. 2017.

Belkin, Douglas. "Today's Anxious Freshmen Declare Majors Far Faster than their Elders; Weak

Job Market and High Debt Loads Prompt Broad Shift Away from Intellectual

Exploration." Wall Street Journal (Online) Mar 20 2015 ProQuest. 02 Apr. 2017.

Clark, Kim. "College Board Says Tuition Rose Faster Than Inflation Again This Year." Time.

Time, 03 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

Douglas-Gabriel, Danielle. "What Everybody Thinks about Student Debt Is Wrong." The

Washington Post. WP Company, 19 July 2016. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

Koba, Mark. "Recession: CNBC Explains." CNBC. CNBC, 30 Apr. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

Korkki, Phyllis. "The True Calling That Wasnt." The New York Times. The New York Times,

17 July 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.

Roese, Neal J., and Amy Summerville. What We Regret Most and Why. Personality &

social psychology bulletin 31.9 (2005): 12731285. PMC. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

Schoen, John W. "Why Does a College Degree Cost so Much?" CNBC. CNBC, 08 Dec. 2016.

Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

Smith, Larry. "Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career." TEDxUW. University of Waterloo,

Ontario. 12 Nov. 2011. TED Conferences. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

"U.S. Student Loan Debt Statistics for 2017." Student Loan Hero. ENOM, INC., 06 Apr. 2017.

Web. 23 Apr. 2017.

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Xia, Xiaoyu. "Forming Wage Expectations through Learning: Evidence from College Major

Choices." Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 132 (2016): 176-96.

ScienceDirect. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.