Let’s look at a few things first:

1) “Do what makes you happy” is a good motto, but it shouldn’t be your only motto. I went into school thinking that, but it doesn’t help with your future. Find what you enjoy doing. That’s the key. Turn THAT into a career.

2) Whatever you do, ask yourself: how can apply this to a working world? Will I need to get my master’s degree? Will I be able to use this degree in every-day life?

3) Look in your town’s Sunday paper in the classifieds. Look at what jobs there are and what degrees are required.

Here are some suggestions I have regarding your major:

1) Have you looked at graphic art? Being good at drawing is great, but how do you plan to USE an illustration major? I know so many art-related students who were shocked when they went out into the real world.

2) Do you want to stick with art? What about layout? Advertising?

3) Do you want to be a teacher? Or are you not really that gifted in the patience of teaching (I know I’m not)? There’s no shame–you need to narrow it down and figure it out.

Basically, I’ve been in the same boat. I’ve always known that I can write, so I stuck with a journalism degree thinking that I just want to be happy. La ti da. By my junior year I realized that I HAD to focus on something I liked, and journalism wasn’t it. I picked business communications with a concentration in nonprofit work. Now that I’ve graduated I’ve gone through the “HOLY CRAP! I GRADUATED WITH THE WRONG MAJOR!” and the always lovely “I’m never going to get a job. That means I’ll never pay off my loans. That means…”

Basically–intern. Next summer or over Christmas intern. Even if it’s not required, it’s going to give you an idea of the working world and what it means to be working in your degree.

My granddaughter did just that. In the end, she decided that the original major was what she really wanted. The end result is that she now has approximately a semester of courses that will not support any other major unless she can find a elective hole to plug them into. The opportunities for any degree program are not limited to the definition of that program. An “illustration major” is not limited to art (perhaps defined as a “starving artist) as a career. If income is a concern then look at the career opportunities surrounding the knowledge that will be gained from the major. Maybe a career in advertising, not drawing but evaluating, might be the way to use the knowledge and still enjoy participating in “art.”

I’d be practical when it comes to choosing a vocation to a certain extent. Sure, you “love” to illustrate…. but there is no reason you necessarily have to accumulate $50,000 – $75,000 debt to do that. Now don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want a doctor or surgeon who had only trained with a few specialized courses and had learned on their own.

However, options are always going to exist for you to go back and do something you are naturally good at even if you choose a more practical degree (engineering, business, geology- I had to throw it in, medicine). I have plenty of friends who work as network analyst consultants and in other areas well outside their fields because they were initially proficient in those areas. While you might learn plenty in college that would help you become an illustrator, you will also fill up your curriculum with classes that aren’t directly applied to illustration.

I’d try going a more fiscally productive degree with a double major in illustration… or just continuing to work on illustration on the side with specialized courses pertinent to that career. A major that will earn you more will allow you the option to go for higher end jobs if your initial path seems less illustrious. If you’re really good at something and passionate about it, a higher end degree won’t hold you back from pursueing that.

Choose something that you love and look for fields that combine what you love with what you make your living at.

I know that these may sound boring but they pay

engineering design

architechtural design

concrete engineering design

or you could go into law enforcement or forensic analysis and use your skills in your job to solve crimes and to do sketch work. I think that going into law enforcement would require you to run a beat for several years until you “paid your dues.”

If that is not your desire then I woul go with an engineering degree and focua on engineering or structural design.

Unless you are darned lucky, you won’t pay your bills with an artist’s salary and if you do, there won’t be terribly a lot left for a mortgage payment and for diapers (when that happens in your life).

What everyone says, “do what makes you happy” is accurate in the words but a better way of putting it would be to “be happy in what you do.”

Find something that does both. Talk to an engineering counselor and then talk to an architechtural counselor and then visit a couple of each type of firm and see what they say.

Proffs don’t always get what has to happen to live in the World today. Mine sure didn’t!

My daughter was a theater major for 4 years, she is fortunate enough to have had divorced parents who combined could afford her entire education costs……….now she has graduated and has NO PLAN YO LIVE………..!!!! She doesn’t know how to put the starving part into starving artist, a phone call home has gotten her by for five years but it won’t anymore and as a mom, I think your plan to do something for money, while you continue to do your illustrations is the way to go………..you said you hate deadlines and any job you have anywhere is going to have them, I know this may not be your favorite answer but I wish I had said it to my own daughter, she may have been mad then but she be better able to take care of herself now, either way good luck to you , don’t forget also that at many schools you can continue your education on grants, thus putting off the loan payments and getting a higher degree in exchange for teaching which you also get paid for, my son did that at Univ. of Mass. in Amherst, there are tons of fellowships………..good luck.

In this case, I wouldn’t say do what makes you happy. But I would say, do you have ANY interest in this major at all? I will say this, my stepmother has a Bachelor in graphic arts and she was never able to find a job anywhere that we went. She is an extremely talented artist and very good at drafting and design. Medical is a great field, it will always be around and pays well. You have to figure out what you would really enjoy doing that pays well. See if your school offers a job placement.

I strongly encourage you to do both, even if it means having to go to school for an extra semester or extra year.

That way, 10 years from now, you will look back and have no regrets. You’ll have both options for the rest of your life!

Since you’ve only completed one year, that means you probably still have about 30 classes required to have the credits to graduate. Usually a major takes about 10 classes, so as long as you plan carefully and don’t waste time taking classes you don’t need, you could very well double major without going for extra time. And even if you do have to go an extra semester, wouldn’t it be worth it?

Put together a four-year plan with your academic advisor, and I bet you will see that this is very possible!

Good luck.

I know this is going to sound cocky, but in some fields the talent get paid and the rest fall out. If you are good then you should stick it out. Remember that part of getting the next job is how easy you where to work with. People who do good work and make it easy to deal with will get far. And if you can’t get a job right off the bat, then you should just keep going to school and end up with a PHD in something. That seems to be the wave of the future.

Look I know that a career in medicine is solid and lord knows America is getting sicker all the time, but a true artist will rebel against the procedure and repetitive nature of that kind of work. Artists are generally more free spirited and don’t like to walk and jump when told to. With that said, are really an artist?

Go for it and find a buisness major to hook up with and marry then you won’t have to worry about a thing/

Go for it

Go for it

You can always slug out more years in college if it don’t work out.

I am a dual (or I should say was) major in Theater/Biochemistry. Theater because I loved it, bio because I was good at it and it would pay the bills. It took me two years but eventually I dropped bio because I realized it was just limiting me from doing what I loved. To make a living off of theater with 80k in loans isn’t likely, but if it means I have two jobs and little time for myself until i find a way to support myself with what I love, well then its worth it for the time being.

But they are right, you have to do what makes you happy, and for a lot of people, being in serious debt doesn’t make them happy, and the alternative of giving up something they have loved, for something not as gratifying in one way but more gratifying in another may be the way to go.

Its really a feel it out kind of situation.

If you take a major that is career retaled or career specific(economics, computer science, economics etc.) then do what ever you like to do.

Majority of the people who graduate from college do not end up getting a job in a field they study

i can’t tell you what major to take. thats a very personal question. If you WANT to be cytotech, then change your major but don’t change just because you are worried.