text: Michael,\nThis is a question that many students struggle with.  How can I decide (at 18!) what I want to do with the rest of my life?  Sometimes it's a daunting question that you don't really want to answer.\n\nI was a university career counselor for 9 years, and here's my best advice:\n\n1.  Major in something you will LOVE to study.  You'll work harder at it, and be able to survive all that reading, those quizzes and tests, papers, long nights at the library, etc.\n\n2.  Visit your career services center starting your freshman year, and keep going!  Starting early, they can help with interest and personality assessments (quizzes you'll enjoy taking!), books and resources, and later, resumes, interviewing skills, connections to internships, summer jobs, mentors/networking contacts, and on-campus interviewing for jobs after you graduate.\n\n3.  If you think you have an interest in a particular path, start doing it as soon as possible!  I worked with a freshman who was determined to get a very competative fashion design internship.  She got it, and commuted from Philly to NYC three times a week - for no pay - to work for famous designer Anna Sui.  \n\n4.  Internships are key - start getting internships during your summer months as soon as you can.  Freshman sometimes get looked over, but try anyway.  If you can get three or more internships before you graduate, in fields you're interested in, you have a 60% likely chance of being offered a permanent job with that company.\n\n5.  Remember, most people don't figure out what they wanna be when they grow up until they reach age 26 or 27!  That means, even if you pick a major, pick a career, and start working, you might have 2-3 jobs before that age - and experience helps you to shape your career path.  \n\n6. Someone went there before you.  Seek out alumni contact through the career services or alumni offices, people doing the jobs you're interested in.  Contact them for short "interviews" where you ask questions about their job.  You'll learn a lot and make potential career-long contacts.\n\n7.  Never narrow your choices.  Start out with everything, and examine, read, try, learn, experience as many as you can.  You'll soon learn what you like and don't like.  And remember, you can always change your mind and pursue a different career later (most people change careers 6-7 times in their life).\n\n8.  Finally, remember that you'll have to get up every morning to go to this job.  If you love your job, then great, but if not, Mondays will look pretty bleak.  Success comes from pursuing your dreams and goals, things that make you happy, and creating the paths to get there.  Choosing a career because it makes money doesn't mean you'll be happy, but choosing a career you love means your heart is in it, and most likely, the money will follow too.\n\nBest of luck to you!\nMichelle Watson Gellas\n(former career counselor for Villanova University, Lehigh University, Ursinus College, and Loyola Marymount University)