As a junior, I have come to the sad realization that I have more college days behind me than I do ahead of me, which is a heart-wrenching fact because the inevitable conclusion is that sooner rather than later I will have to join the world of adults in the working world. Though exciting, it is the kind of crazed enthusiasm that makes your palms sweaty and compels your heart to beat at a speed that could be confused with a heart attack. 

In this economy everyone is nervous about finding a job post-graduation, but it seems many believe a job is less certain for those who receive a degree in LAS. Fortunately, this is not the case at all. 

More and more often I am being asked the proverbial question “What are you going to do when you graduate?” It is a perfectly valid question, but it is one that is sometimes charged with uncertainty, perhaps because both of my majors are in LAS. Unfortunately, it seems that the overarching public opinion of an LAS degree is that because there is not a definitive career path after graduation, its significance is somehow diminished. 

Somewhere along the line the idea of having an open-ended career path became a bad thing and having a major with a definitive career, such as engineering, became the way to go. CNN reported the “10 Hot Careers for 2012,” in which most of the jobs listed dealt with technical skills with no mention of careers for students with degrees in liberal arts. The job market clearly places a great amount of emphasis on jobs where a specific degree is required, making it seem that there are no jobs for those with LAS degrees. 

But an LAS degree arms you with a varied skill set that includes excellent communication, writing and teamwork abilities, all of which allow you numerous options when deciding a career path. Students with these types of degrees have options, choices about what their careers will be. And there is a liberating feeling that goes hand in hand with the immense uncertainty because you are not stuck going down one single career path. 

The New York Daily News reported whether a liberal arts degree is worth investing in, and New York-based career coach Connie Thanasoulis said that students with an LAS degree can traverse career fields because of their multiple skills and are not restricted to one job or task. This places LAS students at an advantage against students in other majors because they may not be able to navigate through careers quite as easily if they are armed with only one set of skills.

Having a major with a specific career that will follow upon graduation does not dictate how successful you will be in the future, just like having a major with an open-ended career path does not automatically render you an unsuccessful future. The Daily News also spoke with a search consultant, Sally Stetson, who said, “The highest salary doesn’t always equate with job satisfaction.”

Unfortunately many are missing out on the beauty of knowing what the future will hold, of being uncertain about which career to choose. Having an unpredictable future makes for an exciting life, and I don’t know one college student who would say that they don’t want an exciting life.

If a major in LAS interests you, go for it. Study something you are passionate about. Though it’s important to have direction and goals, don’t burden yourself with worrying about what kind of job it will yield you. Chances are, you will change jobs multiple times.

Students with a degree in LAS are developing critical thinking and writing abilities that make them an employer’s dream. These are skills that are the fundamentals of every job and by cultivating them in something that you are interested in not only makes you employable, but you will get hired. 

So, if you find yourself being asked the age-old question “What are you going to do with that degree?” you can say with confidence, “Anything I want.”

Kate is a junior in LAS. She can be reach at [email protected].