Choose Passion Over Profit When Choosing a Major

Today I had a student come to my office to talk about starting our program. They were new to college, as in this was their first time even speaking with someone from a college, and they wanted to start in my program. The program I am tasked with supervising and supporting the learning of our students for is a medical program that is academically rigorous and professionally demanding…perhaps in ways that differ from other programs. For example, all students in our program must participate in clinical practicums and clinical internships that require students to make substantive time and energy commitments to satisfy the program requirements for their degree. Now, that isn’t to say that some students find our program personally and professionally rewarding. They absolutely do. However, some students come to our campus (and higher education more broadly) with the idea that they need to come here to get a job…and this was the endgame of my first morning appointment. After only a brief discussion — no longer than 15 minutes — we found that their interest was rooted in helping people…but not through medicine. Having basically raised their younger siblings, the student brings a great deal of passion and interest and expertise in working with young people. We discussed roles in social work that would allow them the opportunity to continue developing these skills and use them to improve the…