Question :
"Some people believe that college students should consider only their own talents and interests when choosing a field of study. Others believe that college students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field."

Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.


My answer:
College is where the transition from a student to a professional takes place. Students should consider their innate talent while selecting the field of study as it is critical and decides his/her life.

Firstly, college is a crucial period of one's life and it's what decide who he/or she will become later in life. Hence it has be aligned with one's core strength or personal interest. For example, if they are not good at Mathematics, then there is no point in studying Engineering or related courses. Likewise, they should think twice before choosing medicine if they are weak in Life Science subjects. Not only because they can't go back in time and change it, but they will be dealing with that subject thereafter. After graduation from college, they will either get a job in a related domain or studying a related branch of the same. Since it's something they want to deal with in their entire life it should be selected wisely.

Secondly, college is not completely a joy ride. Actually, it's a roller-coaster journey with tiring works of assignments, test, projects, labs as well as enjoyable moments like tour, trips etc. The work load is heavy and to manage oneself through this period itself is a tough task. There are cases where students undergo mental illness like depression, insomnia due to the heavy work load. Meanwhile, for students to stay motivated, studying the subjects which they are passionate about will help them to stay on track. Otherwise, students feel like mugging up and eventually some of them will drop out from college succumbing to the pressure.

Having said that to surive in this world, people need a job. And college education itself comes up with a huge price tag. To manage these, they need to get a job and this should also be one of the criteria while choosing a major and it can be managed to a certain extent. For example, if they are interested in learning literature instead of vocational courses, they can still get a job in teaching.

Finally, college is the springboard to the outside world and and the decision of what to study should be made wisely. Primarily the interest of the student should be given weightage and then possibility of getting a job also be considered but that shouldn't prevent someone from pursuing something which they are really passionate about.