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.Writ

Every investment is made with the objective to earn expected returns considering various risks involved in it and sometimes due to external shocks: sluggish economy, higher taxation, returns often not realised and investment turns sour. The choice of a field of study in a college follows the same principle as shown in US 2000 Career Research on jobs that stated: the student should decide to pursue those fields which may bring in higher returns in terms of job opportunities considering the costs and time involved in college education system worldwide. While, there is no doubt that pursuing a field as per the job market can be a relieving factor for a student under financial burden, there is a reason to believe that student’s own interest and skills can also buttress student’s financial health such as when a student pursues a field as per his own interest and skills, he is more likely to achieve pinnacle of his career, thus, can support himself financially as well.

However true it may be that student’s own skills and talents often help him to better exploit career opportunities in a field chosen according to the inherent skills. But the rising costs and time involved in college education drive the students to pursue a field which is not only lucrative but also has sustainable future. As per US 2000 Career Research on jobs, majority of students pursuing a higher degree in colleges have come from countries other than USA and 80 per cent of them were under heavy debt burden and thus, were trying to make ends meet by working part time and had a plan to pursue a field that was in demand among employers. For example, a case study on Harvard Business School conducted in 2005 that covered students who enrolled in different master courses shown that students have responded to a career choice question that personal interests and skills do not help to earn the livelihood for most of them and all of them have chosen to pursue what has been designed to secure a job in USA in order to pay back the debt. In brief, financial burden often comes in the way of chasing personal interests, thus, students are forced to choose a field as per job markets.

One argument that supports the idea that choosing personal interests can help students to live life sustainably and not be merely looking at present job opportunities is that job markets are fluctuating and unpredictable. Since what employers are seeking today among future employees may not be the same after few years thus, students who choose to pursue career oriented field may find themselves outdated or no longer relevant in few years’ time. This can be illustrated by the time when nuclear engineering was in high demand such as during the period between 1942 to 1949; countries were pushing universities to urge the students to pursue nuclear engineering in order to develop nuclear warheads due to rising hostilities. However, when non-proliferation treaty signed between nuclear powers, this career suddenly witnessed downfall and students were helplessly to join other jobs where skills of these nuclear engineers were not required, thus, were being paid at nominal rates. Thus, student should choose a field as per their skills since availability of jobs in one field is not certain and constant and even may not be available after sometime.

Finally, as behavioural scientists have shown that in 1995 that self-actualisation need of a college student is the most important in order to live long life that is stress free, enjoying and resourceful and it realised only when a student pursues a career as per his desire, ambition and skills. Since every job requires employees to work efficiently and to align their goals with the goals of organization, i.e., to be at top in terms of revenues and profits. Thus, organization goals encumber employees own gratification and put them under severe pressure of evaluation, thus render them anxious and unsatisfied and prevent them from enjoying the life. For example, in 2002 the study, conducted by a consultancy firm, covered 12000 employees working in different sectors in USA have shown that retention ratio is the lowest among employees who have pursued fields different from their skills and interests, thus, they keep on changing jobs in order to avoid year end evaluation and these employees are among the most unsatisfied with their employers and the fields they are working into, thus these career fields, though financially rewarding, but not helping the employees beyond certain time once they become financially independent and they intend to leave the job in order to pursue their dreams. Therefore, skills and talents help students to choose a field for a longer time period that would bring in prosperity, happiness and content in life.

While concluding, as can be seen from the above that, although it is true that financial burden often goads the students to choose fields as per the job markets, but due to the fickle job markets and unpredictable requirement of skills by employers, choosing a field which may not be in demand in future often results in sudden fall and demise. Moreover, the job satisfaction and personal achievements are very often not in harmony with the chosen field, thus the chosen field is likely to make them intellectually unproductive. Therefore, a college student is required to make a difficult choice between what is required today and in short span of time and long term self-actualisation.