Identifying Major Attractions
The following is an exercise in focusing your thinking about the typical courses and experiences in several fields or areas of study. The list is not exhaustive, but should provide a starting point to help you zero in on your "major attractions".
Arts (e.g., dance, drama, music, art, creative writing)
- High interest in creative expression.
- Appreciation of nonverbal communication
- Understanding of aesthetics.
- Commitment to perfection.
- Ability to manipulate form and shape.
Business
- Interest in organization and order.
- Ability to lead and manage people.
- Interest in practical problem solving.
- Ambition and interest in financial incentives.
- Can-do attitude.
- Ability to simplify complexity.
Engineering sciences (e.g., engineering, computer science)
- Intense interest in solving real problems.
- "Tinkerer" mentality a plus.
- Extreme ability to focus on minute details.
- Commitment to exactness and perfection.
- Strong logical ability.
- Ability to work alone for long stretches
Helping professions (e.g., nursing, counseling, teaching, and many areas of medicine)
- Interest in people.
- Desire to solve real human problems.
- Commitment to people more than to money.
- Tolerance of "messy" situations with multiple solutions.
- Insight and creativity.
- Ability to work with people.
Humanities (e.g., English, literature, history, theater, film)
- Interest in human emotions and motivations.
- Interest in cultural phenomena.
- Ability to integrate broad areas of study and inquiry.
- Good skills of human observation.
- Interest in the panorama of human life.
Languages/Linguistics
- Interest in words, word origins, and speech.
- View of language as a science.
- View of literature as human expression.
- Appreciation of cultural differences as scientific phenomena.
Physical education
- Interest in physical performance.
- Enjoyment of sports and athletics.
- Commitment to helping others appreciate physical activity.
- Patience and perseverance.
- Commitment to perfection through practice.
Physical, biological, and natural sciences (e.g., physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology)
- Enjoyment of research questions
- High level of curiosity about natural phenomena.
- Quantitative thinking a requirement
- High level of comfort with mathematics and statistics.
- Minute problem-solving skills.
- Attention at great level of detail.
- Strong logical ability.
- Ability to work with others.
Social Sciences (e.g., psychology, communications, sociology, education, political science, economics)
- Interest in people as individuals or groups.
- Ability to think quantitatively and qualitatively.
- High comfort level with mathematics and statistics.
- High level of creativity and curiosity.
- Ability to work with others.
- Interest in theory as much as problem solving
Spiritual/Philosophical
- Interest in the inner life.
- Interest in highly theoretical questions.
- Ability to think rigorously about abstract matters.
- Appreciation of the human search for meaning.
