What to consider when choosing a degree

Choosing a degree becomes difficult when what you like, what the market offers, and what you can sustain today do not line up. To decide, you need to know the day-to-day work, understand what the training would demand of you, and distinguish which conditions can change.

What is trendy or what others are studying

A degree may catch your attention because your friends chose it, because you see it on social media, or because someone told you it has a future. Those conversations can bring you closer to options you did not know about. To find out if any of them genuinely interests you, look into what the people who enroll study and what they do afterward with that training.

If you get excited watching how a festival is put together, for example, notice which part you would like to take part in. You might enjoy designing the signage, putting together the program, or solving schedule and space problems. Watching the finished event does not show you whether you would like to spend an entire afternoon correcting a graphic piece or renegotiating a programming change. Those tasks are also part of the work you are considering.

If the pressure comes from those around you, try to understand what is behind the advice. When someone tells you to choose a “safe” degree, they may be worried about whether you will be able to support yourself. That concern deserves a specific question: what jobs could you look for when you finish and what requirements would you have to meet to get them? Whether a degree is well known does not answer that question.

Your personal interests and strengths

An interest is something that makes you want to learn or do. A strength is an ability you have already put into practice. They can overlap, but not always: you may be the person everyone turns to for organizing a project and yet what you enjoy most is writing or explaining its result. To choose, both what you do well and what you would like to do more often matter.

You may also rule out an activity too soon that you never had the chance to try. Struggling with something is not the same as not liking it or never having been taught how to do it. If you are interested in teaching but speaking in front of a group makes you nervous, try explaining a topic to just one person. Ask them where they got lost and look for another way to explain it. Pay attention to whether you are interested in solving that difficulty, besides how your first attempt went; besides, the key is in practice.

To recognize your strengths, recall examples of what you have already done inside and outside of school. “I organized the deadlines for a group project and warned when a task could hold up the rest” says more than “I’m organized.” That example lets you look for jobs where you can use that ability and ask yourself if you want to keep developing it.

The skills the world of work demands

Finding many job openings in a field does not mean they are all within reach for someone who has just finished studying. Look for entry-level positions in the places where you could work. Read what tasks they include, what experience they ask for, and which of the requirements are essential. If the openings you find are almost all for people with experience, find out through what paths people who are still training usually get in.

Once you identify a task that interests you, compare it with the curriculum. If you picture yourself organizing activities and the positions ask for preparing budgets, look for subjects or internships where you can estimate costs, work with limited resources, and explain why you prioritized an expense. Besides checking whether the degree includes that content, ask when and how you could practice it.

Job postings show what certain organizations are looking for in a place and time. To complete that information, talk to someone who started working recently. Ask them what they knew how to do when they started, what they learned on the job, and what they wish they had practiced beforehand. 

Opportunities for growth and professional development

When you imagine your future in a field, think about what you would like to be able to do after your first job. You may want to specialize in a task, work with more autonomy, or take on projects that feel too big for you right now. For some people, growing means coordinating a team; for others, it means continuing to do the technical work they enjoy and gaining experience to solve more difficult problems.

If you are drawn to producing cultural activities, for example, taking part in larger projects may excite you. But the next position you are looking at might involve spending more time reviewing budgets and coordinating other people, and less time on setup. Ask how the workday is divided in different positions. That way you can evaluate what kind of growth you want, instead of assuming that a position with greater responsibility will always bring you closer to the work you enjoy.

When comparing paths, also find out what's between one position and another. A specialization may require additional training; a change of sector may require experience you don't have yet. The useful thing is to identify what steps exist and which ones you'd be interested in taking. That a path is possible doesn't mean it's automatic or that it makes sense for you.

When you fall in love with the idea of a career

It's easy to picture the most exciting moment of a job: traveling to space or walking into an operating room. Try picturing an ordinary Tuesday while you're still training. What would you be studying? What task would you have to repeat until you get it right? If that part of the journey feels foreign to you, it's worth finding out whether you want to practice the career or whether you're mostly attracted to the image you have of it.

If you dream of becoming an astronaut, scientific or technical training can bring you closer to the space sector, but it doesn't guarantee you'll travel to space. NASA publishes its requirements and selection process (opens in another tab): besides education and experience, it requires United States citizenship and a specific physical evaluation. Being eligible lets you apply; being selected is another stage. Before committing to training for that goal, ask yourself if the work you could do with it would still interest you if you never took part in a space flight.

In surgery, the moment of operating is only one part of what you have to consider. It also matters whether you're interested in studying Medicine, caring for patients, and learning to make decisions with a team. After your Medicine degree, one training path is residency. For example in Argentina, the regulations of the Sistema Nacional de Residencias de la Salud (open in another tab) include supervised practice, evaluations, and on-call shifts depending on the program. That rigor has a purpose: responsibility increases as the person shows they can handle it.

What it would cost you to stick with the training

All degrees require dedication. What changes is how much time each stage demands from you, what expenses it brings, and how much flexibility you have to combine it with other responsibilities. Build a week with real schedules: add classes, hands-on training, study time, commuting, work, caregiving, and rest. Then, calculate how much you would spend and what income you would give up if you had to reduce your work hours.

That calculation can change what looked like a good option. You might be able to pay tuition, but not stop working two afternoons a week. Or you might be able to complete the first year and still not know how you would manage once hands-on training starts. Find out which parts of the plan you can already sustain and which ones depend on something still to be confirmed. A scholarship you haven't been awarded yet can be a possibility; it doesn't cover rent yet.

Recognizing a limit today is not deciding forever

If you aren't drawn to the core tasks of a career, it may be best to revisit your goal. If those tasks interest you but the training doesn't fit your schedule or your income, what you need to revisit is the plan. They are different problems: in one, what you want has changed; in the other, you just haven't found a viable way to do it yet.

Instead of leaving the decision for “someday,” identify what condition would have to change and when you could check on it. It could be having a confirmed scholarship, getting a compatible schedule, or completing a course you're missing. Some conditions don't depend on you, and not all of them will change.

Don't know what to study? Start with our career test. Use the suggestions to find two alternatives you want to research and compare them based on the real tasks and conditions of each one.