Running head: POPPING THE QUESTION IN COLLEGE

Popping The Question In College

Abby Orlansky
Spring 2016
HDFS 3110

Running head: POPPING THE QUESTION IN COLLEGE

For my wildcard assignment, I chose to read You Majored In

What?: Mapping Your Path From Chaos To Career by Katharine Brooks.
This book breaks down the question that has been embedded in us
since we were little. Along with the question comes other questions,
such as what do I do with this degree? And where is my linear path?
The purpose of this assignment was to further my knowledge about
professional development and to self-reflect along the way. The linear
career path hasnt disappeared. Some psychology majors do become
psychologists and some English majors become English professors.
But linear thinking can keep you from thinking broadly about your
options and being open-minded to new opportunities (Brooks, 2009).
Junior year has been a confusing year, to say the least. I didnt
know it at the beginning, but second semester brought upon secondguessing my career path and major. I constantly thought, is this the
path I want to be on? Do I actually want to do physical therapy? After
spending this semester shadowing at a Physical Therapy office here in
Athens, I got turned away from the career. I didnt feel passionate
about it and didnt know if I could actually see myself pursuing it in the
future. Having this conflict while reading the book made me feel better
about my decisions thus far, though.
Brooks often talks about the direct path and how most advice
on career planning focuses on it, ultimately creating pressure on a path
that tries to rule that out. I related so much with the thoughts

Running head: POPPING THE QUESTION IN COLLEGE

mentioned in a section of the book. Some include My major equals

my career, I guess I should go to grad school, Career tests will tell
me what to do, I should wait until I know what I want to do before
starting my job search, Career counselors can tell me what to do. I
have had all of these thoughts at least once in the past year, and
theyre scary, confusing, and not something you should focus on.
Brooks included real life stories of people and their journeys to
their careers, proving its not always a linear path. One student
majored in psychology, thinking they would become a professor and
pursue a Ph.D. After realizing they enjoyed anthropology classes, a
professor helped them get an internship at a museum where the
student helped to create an exhibit on Native American art and
enjoyed it. They introduced themself to an alumna at a career
program and ended up touching bases during their senior year when
the alumna called and offered the student a job at the new Native
American exhibit.
Stories like this are real, happen everyday, and made me feel so
much less cloudy about what Im doing right now as a junior with my
choice of major and career path. I think every student in college
comes to a point in their four years where they have a mid-life crisis
type situation; they question what theyre doing or what theyre
supposed to be doing. Brooks introduced the chaos theory, the notion
that there is no rhyme or reason to ones career pathChaos theory

Running head: POPPING THE QUESTION IN COLLEGE

helps us understand that too many variables in a complex system

make it hard to predict the out come (Brooks, 2009). Chaos theory
helps us to realize that the greater the distance between now and the
future, the weaker the prediction will be. It helps us to understand we
cant really predict the future in great detail.
This helped me to sit back and realize that there is no reason to
freak out right now, I know for a fact things will unravel by themselves
and that me being unsure of what I want to do isnt necessarily a
negative thing. My favorite piece of advice that Brooks gives is
..instead of trying to predict a future you cant see, you can start your
career planning by focusing on what you know right now, what you
dont know, and what you can learn (Brooks, 2009). So much of
college is overpowered with pressure and people making you feel like
you have to choose a specific career path right then and there, but
what people dont tell you is that you have the rest of your life ahead
of you to figure out what you want to do.
The chaos theory embraces changes throughout life, because
whether we may or may not see an organized pattern, chaos isnt
always chaotic and theres usually an unseen order of events. The
purpose of the chaos theory is to steer away from the linear theory and
to help relax you, which it did for me. I found this book extremely
relevant to where I am in life right now, and I loved it. Butterfly
moments are occurrences that sent you in an unexpected direction.

Running head: POPPING THE QUESTION IN COLLEGE

These memorable days/moments are crucial to the chaos theory. Ive

been fortunate enough to have hundreds of these throughout college,
some good and some bad.
You have to take advantage of them at the time. Embrace them,
just as Brooks suggests embracing the chaos. Very rarely do people
know exactly what they want to do, and actually follow that path.
Things change, people change, time changes. Both of my parents, for
example, started out with different careers than they have now. They
never saw themselves being a teacher or a dietitian, seeing as my dad
was in law school and my was in dental hygiene school, but they ended
up where they both wanted to be.
College can be scary at some points, and sometimes it all seems
to crash down on you at once. People think what they choose to do
now is what theyre stuck with, but thats not the case. After reading
Brooks book, Ive realized that the timing of things works out, whether
I realize that now or not. Things arent always going to fall in your lap,
but with a little bit of unexpected turns, things will turn out right. I
needed this read, especially second semester, when Ive been at my
highest point of uncertainty. Im going to take a different approach to
my last year of college, knowing that the Question will always be
there, but its how you answer it. You can do a multitude of things with
any major picked, and I cant wait to see where Human Development
and Family Science takes me.

Running head: POPPING THE QUESTION IN COLLEGE

Works Cited
Brooks, K. (2009). You majored in what? : Mapping your path from
chaos to career. New York, NY: Viking.

Chat with Katharine Brooks, Author of You Majored in What?! Ms.

Career Girl.

(2010, May 04). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from

http://www.mscareergirl.com/2010/05/04/chat-with-katherine-brooksauthor-of-you-majored-in-what/

Running head: POPPING THE QUESTION IN COLLEGE

Coulson, F. (2010, April 15). Living More Than OK. Retrieved April 24,
2016, from
http://livingmorethanok.blogspot.com/2010/04/understanding-your-lifethemes-using.html