If you don't know what to study, you still haven't developed digital skills in time management, autonomy, data analysis and processing, or professional ethics, and you don't know which jobs are in demand, you can start with those basics.

Choosing requires researching what activity you could sustain over time based on your interests, resources, and living conditions.

How to choose based on your reality

Before choosing a degree, get to know the activity you will do

The name of a degree and its list of subjects are not enough to imagine a workday. You need to understand what problems you would handle, what tasks you would perform, and what responsibilities you would take on. As well as keeping in mind the profound technology changes happening now and the strategic possibilities in your region.

In Business Administration, for example, a person in charge of organizing purchases for a store needs to find out which products are missing, check how much money is available, compare suppliers, and coordinate deliveries. Then they must check that what was received matches what was ordered and record the transaction. If a supplier is delayed, they will have to evaluate alternatives and communicate how that delay affects the business.

You may be interested in comparing costs, but find negotiating uncomfortable; perhaps you enjoy organizing deliveries, even though you need to strengthen your spreadsheet skills. To evaluate those differences, identify which part of the activity interests you, what knowledge you are missing, and what difficulties come up when you try to do it.

It is also helpful to review how you first encountered that activity. In the purchasing example, you may have had difficulties because you didn't understand the spreadsheet, because you received incomplete instructions, or because you had to negotiate without preparation. Each situation presents a different problem. Learning to use the tool, getting a clearer explanation, or practicing with support would let you explore aspects that were left unresolved in that first experience.

If an educational experience or meeting with a professional influenced your rejection, identify what you disliked: the tasks they performed, their way of working, the treatment you received or the conditions of the place. That review helps to clarify what you want to avoid and what part of the activity you are still interested in learning about.

You can try again when you have the interest and conditions to do so. Choose a limited task and change what made the previous experience difficult: look for another educational option, another teacher, another professional, another explanation, prepare the necessary knowledge or practice in another setting. If after better understanding the tasks you prefer another activity, add that result to the comparison of degrees.

The next step is to research the working conditions. Following the purchasing example, you could ask how many orders are handled per day, what deadlines are involved, who you coordinate with and what happens when an error appears. Find out if the position requires in-person presence, travel or after-hours availability. Then relate those demands to where you live, how far you can commute and what responsibilities you have.

Professional responsibility appears within those same tasks. Someone who compares suppliers must present the full costs and explain why they recommend an option. Hiding an expense or altering a record to cover up a mistake affects those who depend on that information. Knowing an activity also involves understanding who can be harmed by a mistake and how decisions are reviewed.

To get closer to the real work, talk to people who do it and ask them to describe a recent workday: what they solved, what tools they used and what knowledge they needed. If you can, consult someone who is just starting out and another person with experience.

Then compare what you found out with the curriculum. Look for which subjects teach that knowledge, how it is practiced and what opportunities exist to get closer to the work during training.

Compare what interests you with what you can sustain

An option needs to fit into your organization, daily planning and your budget. Write down how much time you can study per week, whether you need to work and what support you have. Include class schedules, commuting, studying outside of class and internships.

Calculate transportation, materials, connectivity, and equipment costs, plus tuition or fees where applicable. Training without tuition can also be difficult to sustain if it requires commuting every day, buying tools, or doing internships on schedules incompatible with your job.

Review what knowledge you need to strengthen to get in and move ahead. If you are interested in training with math and your foundation is weak, find out what content the first year requires and what support the institution offers. This lets you organize concrete preparation and estimate the time you would need.

If you need to earn income soon, compare vocational training, technical degrees by their requirements, schedules, internships, and certifications. Check whether it has official recognition. When you want to continue studying later, ask in writing for the conditions for articulation and recognition of subjects.

What degrees you can explore based on concrete tasks

To put together an initial shortlist, connect each area with activities you can learn about or try. The names and scopes of qualifications change across countries and institutions; always review the program you could actually take.

Business Administration, Accounting and Logistics

You can explore these areas if you are interested in organizing resources, recording operations, reviewing costs, or coordinating deliveries. Compare their curricula: managing an organization, preparing accounting information, and planning the movement of products require different knowledge. As an introductory activity, you can review a public budget or compare the terms from several suppliers.

Computer Science and data training

Explore whether you are interested in developing programs, solving equipment and systems problems, or working with information. To start telling them apart, try an introductory programming activity and another one on organizing and analyzing data. Notice what difficulties come up, how you look for a solution, and how interested you are in continuing to learn.

Nursing and other health degrees

Learn about the internships, procedures, patient contact, and working conditions. Find out what science training requires, how supervised internships are organized, and what requirements are needed to practice in your jurisdiction. Include in the comparison your availability for the schedules and work environments of each activity.

Technical training in maintenance, electricity and mechanics

Check what equipment is used, how faults are detected and what safety procedures are taught. When comparing institutions, ask about workshops, tools, and supervised internships. To learn about the field, you can observe an authorized activity or take part in a guided introduction that respects its safety requirements.

Communication, Design, Education and Arts

Figure out whether you are interested in researching and producing content, solving visual communication needs, teaching, or developing a work. Try a task from each option you are considering: prepare an interview, design a piece based on a brief, or plan an explanation. Look into how first jobs are accessed and what productions or experience are requested.

What the data shows about the opportunities and challenges of each degree

To assess how you could make a living from an activity, you need to consider the hiring opportunities and the conditions of the jobs available. The following surveys let you examine competition among graduates, the relationship between employment and training, pay, and required skills.

Peru: high competition in Law, Psychology and History and Archaeology

The Cámara de Comercio de Lima published in March 2025 a comparison between graduates and labor demand using 2023 data from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor. The analysis estimated approximately 71 Law graduates per surveyed demand position, 70 in Psychology and 58 in History and Archaeology. In Systems and Computing, Telecommunications and other areas with less competition, the ratio was between one and two graduates per position.

If you are considering Law or Psychology in Peru, factor that competition into your planning: how long you could sustain a job search, what experience you could gain during your studies, and what resources you would need to develop independent work. If your plan depends on finding clients or patients, consider the time and costs of building that practice.

The analysis on higher education and employment by the Cámara de Comercio de Lima presents the comparison across fields.

Argentina: salary dissatisfaction in Communication and Journalism

The First National Study by REDCOM, conducted between September and October 2025 and released in 2026, gathered 1,367 responses from graduates of Social Communication and Journalism through a non-probability sample. The report found 60% holding multiple jobs and 63% highly dissatisfied with pay. At the same time, 78% said their main occupation was highly related to the field.

When evaluating these degrees, look at how much the opportunities that interest you pay, how many hours they require, and whether you would need to combine jobs or assignments to cover your expenses. The preliminary REDCOM report details the working conditions recorded.

Uruguay: differences in the relationship between work and training

In the 2021 survey by the Facultad de Información y Comunicación of the Universidad de la República, one-third of respondents from Communication performed tasks with little connection to their career. Among respondents from Archivology and Library Science, 90% said that much of their work was related to their degree.

If you're comparing these programs, research where their graduates work and how they get those jobs. The faculty's publication about its graduate survey describes the paths into employment and public- and private-sector participation among the people surveyed.

Brazil: differences in employment between Arts and Humanities and Medicine

The 2026 ABMES/Symplicity Employability Indicator gathered a voluntary sample of 10,317 recent graduates from 99 institutions. Among those whose field of study was classified, 73.8% of the Arts and Humanities group was working, compared with 94.2% for Medicine, nine to nineteen months after graduating. The indicator counts work both inside and outside the field studied.

If you choose an arts program, build into your preparation how you would showcase your work, get commissions, or apply to open calls. Also plan for how you would support yourself during periods between projects. The IASE 2026 presentation in PDF lets you review the results by field and the survey methodology.

Paraguay: difficulties finding technical skills and experience

The 2024 Labor Market Trends Study, by INE and SINAFOCAL, surveyed companies in industry, commerce, and services in Asunción and Central. 62.8% reported having had vacancies during the past year; among those companies, 37.9% found it difficult to fill them, mainly because of a lack of technical skills and experience. In addition, 72.7% considered basic computer skills important.

These results give you a concrete reason to assess hands-on practice and digital training when comparing study options. Check what tasks you would learn to perform and what opportunities you would have to practice them. The INE report on the 2024 results details the hiring difficulties and the skills employers value.

What to assess if you choose a degree with few job opportunities

If the activity that interests you has few accessible openings in your area, prepare a financial scenario that takes that situation into account. Estimate your monthly expenses and what income or support could cover them while you study and look for work. Include the cost of relocating, doing internships, or getting equipment.

Next, identify how you could get your first experiences: internships planned in the degree, entry-level jobs compatible with your coursework, or projects that let you show what you can do. If you're planning to move, compare the cost of housing and transportation with the pay and requirements of jobs in the place you'd go.

Working for yourself requires preparing how you'll deliver the service and organizing its finances. If you choose Design, for example, you need to define which jobs you could take on, how long they'd take, and what you'd charge, considering meetings, production, corrections, and expenses. You'd also need to identify potential clients and how to present your work to them.

You can combine the degree with a complementary skill tied to a specific task. In Communication, for example, you could develop audiovisual editing to produce interviews; in Administration, data analysis to review operations. Before paying for more training, compare its content with the jobs that interest you and with what your degree already covers.

What skills can you develop while researching what to study

As you compare degrees, you can start a course of study that lets you practice tasks found in different fields. Pick a limited goal and a product you can review: an organized record, an explanation, a budget, or a presentation.

Digital organization and data handling

Learn to organize files, write documents, use spreadsheets, and protect your accounts. Then work with information: record data using a consistent criterion, spot duplicates, check units, calculate percentages, and explain a result.

Artificial intelligence and checking results

Connect your learning about artificial intelligence with a task you can understand and review. In a practice exercise using a spreadsheet, ask a generative tool to suggest a formula and explain its steps. Compare the proposal with the program's documentation and verify the calculation using data you can check.

Record what information you provided to it, what response you got, and what you had to correct. That review lets you evaluate whether the tool helped you solve the task and what knowledge you need to reinforce to use it independently.

Ethics and responsibility when handling information

In those same practice activities, use your own, public, or authorized information. Learn to recognize when a file contains other people's data, what permissions you need, and who you can share it with. If you prepare an explanation or a presentation, identify the sources you used and keep the context of the data.

Also practice how to communicate an error: what happened, what result it affected, and how you corrected it. That ability is part of working with information, because other people may use your records or conclusions to make decisions.

Communication and learning another language

Practice writing clear questions, explaining a procedure, and presenting a result with its reasoning. For example, when comparing budgets, explain which option you would choose considering price, conditions, and timeframe, and answer the questions that choice might raise.

To choose another language, check which one appears in the jobs, materials, and work relationships in the field you are researching. Define what you need to be able to do: read documentation, write an email, talk with a client, or take part in an interview. That task helps guide your practice and track your progress.

Independence and ability to produce a result

Choose a small task, break it into steps, and set when you will review it. Before asking for help, write down what you tried and where the difficulty appears. When you finish, check whether someone else can understand and use what you prepared.

If your goal is to generate income with your own activity, add economic questions to that production: who needs the result, how they get it today, how much it costs to produce, and what conditions delivery would have. You can start by describing and calculating a possible service before investing in tools or paying for training.

How to organize your research before enrolling

Put together an initial comparison of three options and set aside time each week to work on them. You can spread the exploration over four weeks and adapt the pace to your obligations:

1. First week: describe your resources, schedules, knowledge, and necessary conditions for studying. Select the options you could take.
2. Second week: review the official curricula, admission requirements, costs, internships, and the recognition of the degrees.
3. Third week: talk with students and workers, and do an introductory activity for the options that still interest you.
4. Fourth week: compare what you learned about the tasks, the difficulties, the budget, and the job opportunities. Identify which option you could sustain and what issue you need to resolve before enrolling.

When consulting an institution, ask for concrete information about internships and graduates: where supervised experiences take place, how places are assigned, what costs they involve, and what schedules they require. If it publishes an employability percentage, ask which graduating class it corresponds to, how many people responded, and whether it counts any job or the one related to the training.