Navigating Your Career Path at Michigan

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coming to college is an exciting

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adventure but it also comes with

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unknowns most students wonder "What am I

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going to do after Michigan?" It's an

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important question and it's perfectly

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okay not to have an answer right away

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your journey at Michigan is a time for

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exploration to discover what you enjoy

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and what you're skilled at so if you're

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not sure what your pathway looks like

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yet you're in great company let's meet

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three students who are embracing this

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time of discovery and figuring it out as

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they go these students all had different

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paths the first came in undecided and

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through experimentation and community

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found her interest the second came to

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Michigan with a clear goal and her

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campus experiences helped her to decide

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to pivot to a new goal the final student

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came in with a very specific interest

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and through his classes and engagements

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was able to understand and deepen that

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interest further let's listen to their

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stories to hear how they explored their

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career interest

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when I first got to Michigan I didn't

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know what I wanted to do and that felt

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really overwhelming i was a first gen

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transfer student in winter so it felt

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like I had to have it all figured out

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right away after a recommendation from a

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transfer mentor I found a major that

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piqued my interest communication and

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media

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over the summer after my first full year

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I knew I wanted to get an internship i

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felt like I should get a traditional

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internship for my major something like

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marketing or communications

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i decided that if I did get an

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internship I wanted it to be one I was

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excited for and for a company I

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connected with i asked myself what I

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felt I really gravitated towards on

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campus what I actually look forward to

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doing

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i realized how much I care about human

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rights specifically women's rights orgs I

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ended up landing a PR internship based

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on female leadership for the summer and

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it turned out that I didn't love it i

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talked about my experiences with a

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career coach at U of M and I realized I

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was way more passionate about advocacy

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than I was about the behind-the-scenes

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work of PR

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with this realization

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I felt a little panicked i felt like I

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needed to change my major to women's

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studies to be able to go for the job I

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wanted but I didn't really have time to

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change my major

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as I was picking classes for the

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following semester I realized my major

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was flexible enough to make it my own by

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picking the classes that work for me

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through all of these challenges

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I was so happy to have my on campus job i

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found it through the student employment

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website and it ended up giving me a real

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sense of community a comfortable space

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with kind encouraging people who

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genuinely care about me and my success

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i think students can lose sight of that

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sometimes we get so caught up in trying

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to make everything work that we forget

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how much it matters to be in spaces that

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remind us to believe in ourselves

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moving forward I'm excited to continue

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advocating for causes I care about using

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my major to make a meaningful difference

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when I came into college I thought my

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path was set i would become a biomedical

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engineer focused on biology and

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biotechnology

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i joined a research learning community

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and participated in the undergraduate

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research opportunity program or UROP

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for short excited to explore what a

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research career entails

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however it didn't take long for me to

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realize that spending long hours in the

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lab focusing on repetitive tasks by

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myself really wasn't for me i missed the

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human connection the teamwork and the

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chance to see the bigger picture i found

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myself searching for a setting where

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collaboration and interaction were at

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the forefront which felt more natural to

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me

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the turning point came when I talked

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with my principal investigator about how

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I was feeling with my experiences they

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helped me see that I have a lot of

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options outside of the lab this led me

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to start exploring other careers and

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made me realize I'm a better fit for

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business i ended up switching my major

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two more times before realizing that I

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could use my industrial and operations

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engineering major for business-oriented

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positions

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these shifts led me to embrace

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consulting and venture capital as areas

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where I could grow and excel by joining

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clubs that I found at Festi-Fall and

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engaging with alumni through resources

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at the career center I found

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opportunities that align with my

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evolving interests in business and

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entrepreneurship

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now I'm excited about a future where I

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can use my skills in collaborative

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environments to make a significant

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impact

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i have been interested in politics since

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I was 12 so when I came in undeclared to

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LSA I mostly chose classes in pre-law

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polisci and public policy my academic

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interests were influenced by my family's

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experiences with the Flint water crisis

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understanding how policy can have an

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impact on real people

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one important moment for me was when I

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attended a guest lecture on campus about

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climate change listening to the speaker

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talk about activism and the unique

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political landscape really resonated

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with me inspiring me to think about how

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I could turn my passion into real world

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impact

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i had a good idea of the policies I

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wanted to learn about but realized that

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I was thinking about policy too narrowly

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there are a lot of important issues to

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be tackled so I declared my major in

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public policy i added a minor in modern

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Greek due to an ongoing interest in my

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Greek heritage

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something I had never considered before

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was the overlap of my major and minor

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that I could combine these interests in

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foreign affairs policy

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looking back I think it all fell into

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place because I put myself out there and

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took advantage of the opportunities that

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presented themselves to me attending

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lectures talking to faculty and

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attending career fairs

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this has shifted my career aspirations i

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started college thinking I was headed

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straight to law school now I see that

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maybe law school isn't my immediate path

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or even my ultimate one my interests

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have shifted toward foreign affairs and

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the broader field of policy something I

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had never considered before this

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unexpected journey has changed my plans

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and I'm excited to see where it takes me

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all of the pathways you just heard about

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are normal whether you come to Michigan

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decided and deepen your interest you

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enter without knowing your next steps or

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you come in with one idea and change

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your mind later it's all normal no

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experience is better than the other and

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we all have unique pathways it's also

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normal to have a range of emotions about

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deciding on your major and your career

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pathway excitement disappointment

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frustration confusion anticipation the

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students stories show us that the most

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important thing that you can do is to

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try things out some students went to see

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speakers others gained insight from

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their clubs their classes and their

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internships we also often hear students

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benefiting from shadowing and from

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networking with alumni the best way to

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figure out what you like is to

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experiment so we encourage you to get

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out there even if you're not sure what

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you're interested in just yet as you

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progress through your program lean into

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your community at Michigan this can help

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you make sense of what you're

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experiencing connecting with career

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coaches fellow students staff and

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faculty will give you the space to

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debrief your Michigan experience and

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give you ideas for how to test your

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interest the Michigan community is here

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to support you and your career journey