Planning College In The Wrong Order

TAYLOR – College Graduate – Accounting Degree/Doctorate in Physical Therapy

Situation:

 Taylor got a full academic scholarship from the University of Arizona, entered school undecided, and was told she must choose a major before starting her sophomore year in college. She graduated in four years with her degree in accounting and found a high-paying job in a large accounting firm. Taylor quit after 4 months, feeling like a failure. She said she did not feel like she fit in and hated the actual work that being an accountant entailed. Taylor went back to school to get her doctorate in Physical Therapy. Now she loves getting up and going to work every day. If Taylor had declared her major as a freshman, she could have received her Doctorate within 6 years versus the 10 years it took her to graduate. She incurred almost $200,000 in additional education costs.

Discussion:

When asked why Taylor chose an accounting degree she said ‘I was under the gun to decide on a major since I was going into my Sophomore year of college. I figured my mom is in business, she likes it and is good at it. Plus, accounting is a solid career, and you can always get work. Every company needs an accountant. Taylor shared that getting her accounting degree was hard for her and math never came naturally to her while growing up.

Ah ha! Moment:

As Taylor worked with her coach she shared that she had always been intrigued by how the human body works. She said she did not consider pursuing a career in the sciences because ‘everyone’ told her how hard the classes were in college.

Action Items:

Taylor interviewed several people in careers surrounding physical therapy before deciding to shoot for her doctorate. She also considered the ROI of taking on the estimated $200,000 in additional education costs.

Result:

Taylor loves getting up for work every day and knows she made the right decision to go back to school.

A Glimpse into Taylor’s CliftonStrengths:

Empathy®: People high in Empathy® can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others' lives or others' situations.

Taylor’s ability to sense, understand, hold space for the feelings of others, and allow them to share their emotions with her is important to her being effective as a physical therapist.

Significance®: People high in Significance® want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized.

For Taylor, making an impact in people’s lives is very fulfilling and feeds her feeling of being important and leaving a legacy.

When things go wrong:

What if Taylor had discussed her love of understanding how the human body worked when she decided on a major? Even better, before she went to college. She could have been practicing physical therapy four years faster and with less debt.

Taylor’s family did what many families do and planned for college in the wrong order. They planned without the end result in mind, a career. Taylor chose a college first, then picked a college major her sophomore year without much thought and took a job without thinking about if it would make her happy. Had Taylor been able to talk about her interest in the human body and possible careers first, then decide on a major to get her to that goal, her experience in college would have been much different.

Students who don’t have a career/goal in mind typically take more than four years to graduate from college (the average is 5.5 years) because they change majors one or more times. In Taylor’s case, she added four years to her education.

Parents Takeaway:

Take the time to talk about possible career ideas early. Just because we have not taken this approach in the past does not mean it should not be done this way moving forward. Many parents think it’s too stressful for their teen to determine a career. When is the right time to have these conversations? When you start having these thoughts, think about Taylor’s story. Then decide, what is more stressful, spending four years getting a hard degree and a job you hate or talking about possible ideas and going down a path that seems natural to you because it interests you.

 Taylor was the first client to participate in our Career Activator program. Her coaching forged the way for many of the activities and worksheets we use today. We were flying the plane as we were building it when we were coaching Taylor.