What Do You Love?
This lesson is going to work on identifying your interests, even those that you don’t think have any relation to academics.
Slide 1: How to Choose a Program (a.k.a. Major)
Lesson 1: What do you love?
This lesson is going to work on identifying your interests, even those that you don't think have any relation to academics.
Slide 2: A Typical Week in Your Shoes
- For one week, note what you do with your time outside of school.
- At the end of the week, rank the top activities.
The first thing we're going to do, and you're going to find this in your action steps, is to look at a typical week during the school year and note what you do during your time outside of school. Instead of trying to look back and figure it out, I suggest starting from today, and at the end of each day, note what you did and how long you spent doing it. Try to be as thorough as you can. Include things like doodling, reading, and note whether it was done for pleasure or for school, and what you were reading if it was for pleasure. Watching TV, what types of shows did you watch? It might be playing video games, or texting, or chores, or social media. Everything you're doing, try to write it down.
And then at the end of the week, I want you to circle the things you did because you enjoy it as opposed to those things you did because you had to like chores or homework. And then, out of those things that you circled, give each of those a score of 1 to 5 to note how much you really enjoy that activity. And hang on to that because we're going to use it a little bit later.
Slide 3: Extracurricular Activities
The next thing we're going to do, and there might be some overlap with the list that you just did, is to note your extracurricular activities. These might be done through school or out of school, year round, or at certain parts of the year. So again, you're going to make a list of your activities for the past few years. Are there clubs at school that you were involved in? Did you do volunteer work or sports? Or have you had a job? Are you involved in groups or clubs or activities outside of school? Were there travel experiences you did? Be sure to include the summer activities you've done as well. Once you have this list, you're going to do the same thing you did for the other one, circling those things you did because you enjoy it, and giving those a score of 1 to 5 to note how much you enjoyed it.
And the other thing you're going to do is to make a list of those things that might not have been covered yet. Sometimes we have a passion that doesn't have a real outlet or a regular time allocated to it. There's really no right or wrong answer here. It's just about your interests and the things you like to do. Some answers I've seen have been looking at maps, or sports statistics, or Magic: The Gathering, or current events, or musical theater, or Instagram. This part of the action step is probably the most important. In the other parts, we're sort of trying to uncover hidden passions, but in this part, it’s really about the things you already know that you love to do. And the next thing, if this slide will change…
Slide 4: Academic Interests
- Really think about why you like or dislike a subject (beyond factors like your teacher).
- Beyond the subject, think about the aspects of classes that you do or don’t like.
- Don’t worry about whether you think these are related to your strengths or weaknesses at this point.
Now we're going to look at your academic interests. First, we want to identify what your favorite classes have been. But we also really want to look at why; why you enjoyed the class. Maybe you don't generally like science, but you really liked the unit on genetics. Maybe you like math because there's always a correct answer. Maybe a global conflicts class piqued your interest in current events. Really take some time to think about what you liked about the class on more than a surface level.
Then also think about your least favorite subjects and why you haven't liked that class. Was it due to an uninspiring teacher? Or is the subject area of no interest? Is it because the subject area was especially difficult, which led you to feel defeated? Really, again, try to think about this beyond the surface level. Try to think about the actual subject matter.
Also, you want to think about what aspects of classes you do like the most. Do you like or hate group work? Do you like reading? Do you like writing papers? Do you like the use of technology? Right now, we're just looking at identifying your likes and dislikes. Don't worry about if you think that these areas are aligned with your strengths. We'll get into that with the next step.
So after the action steps in this lesson, you should have a short list of your top interests and activities in and outside of school. In the next lesson, we're going to talk about how to use this to identify study areas. So the more thorough you can be in these action steps, the easier the next parts will be for you.
See you in Lesson Two.