Some INFJ career advice pretty please | INFJ Forum

Some INFJ career advice pretty please

Chamomile

Chamomile

Community Member
Mar 26, 2011
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So I'm a junior in college majoring in Anthropology. I chose it for its versatility when applied towards a grad program. Within the next 6 months, I have to decide what I will study in grad school and apply accordingly. My grades are great so far so I should be able to get somewhere decent, the problem is that I'm having a hard time narrowing it down. I have several ideas in mind that are pretty much totally unrelated to each other, which is why I'm kind of stuck and can't narrow it down.

So far, my narrowed areas of interest and concerns in no particular order are:
1. Speech Pathology
This has always fascinated me and I'm good at one on one helping people understand and work through things. Something that really gets me going is helping people who have trouble pronouncing things or struggle with accents in a foreign language. It seems to involve the 'helping someone improve and reach their potential' thing that I love. However, other than a Linguistics class I have no experience, and jumping into it without the background scares me a LOT. I also don't know any speech pathologists to ask advice from.
2. Psychology/Therapy of some sort
I've had a couple of my therapists tell me they think I'd be great at it and I do love helping people work through personal problems, but I feel like I want something almost a little more tangible. If that makes sense?
3. Area studies (probably Middle Eastern studies since my background is in Arabic)
This has been a long time interest of mine. I love studying other cultures and I'm good with languages and have taken a couple years of Arabic. However the studying abroad in an Arabic speaking country in the current political climate + possibly winding up in the area makes me think that'd be too much stress on me.
4. Architecture focused on Universal Design
Okay, this I'm very confused about. I think it would be amazingly interesting and I love universal design (making products/buildings accessible for everyone regardless of disability). That part of it is really appealing to me. But I'm concerned about two things, one: would it be too tangible and not enough people-oriented? Concern number two: details. Now, I'm good at math (especially word problems and relevant to real life math), but I'm not good at the little details and bazillions of rules. Since a ton of math is required to get through that degree, I feel like I might go slowly insane. I've researched it a lot and gone back and forth, and some INFJ recommendations list architecture, and some don't. Since INFJ's tend to usually dislike details, I'm confused. I also don't know any architects to ask about the amount of detail in learned material and more importantly, if I would be expected to remember all of that (not happening).

#'s 1,2, and 4 are not majors available at my current school.

I know nobody can make the decision for me, I'm perfectly happy making it, I just don't know where else to research to find out what I don't know. All that to say, I'd love some opinions or insight about potential problems or perks that I might not have thought of or whatever. I think I just need someone to look at it from outside the tangles in my mind and help me see it clearly. Thanks for taking the time to read all that! :)


PS Please don't tell me not to worry and that I have time. Even my professors are saying its time to choose so I need to just pick something to the best of my ability and live with it.
 
The only thing I can think of is that I would lean towards ruling out architecture. If you think that paying constant attention to minute details and mathematical rules could become boring or maddening, it doesn't sound like a good fit.

When I project my unrealized ambition for adventure onto your other options, I must say Area Studies! But I know, it could be dangerous, and I openly admit I'm projecting ^_^
 
I do agree with sloe djin on architecture - alot of work in the field can fairly detail oriented. If you think you can handle that, go for it, but it's something you should consider, other than than that, they really are all good infj-y fits.
 
Sounds like you're not as interested in architecture and therapy. Maybe you could try speech pathology with a minor in a foreign language? Studying a foreign language will help you with the concepts. Then you could also study abroad maybe just for the winter or summer semester to see how you like it. I went to France during the winter and Russia during the summer and loved it, but I don't think I'd want to stay in either of those countries long enough to become fluent.
 
Sloe Djinn said:
The only thing I can think of is that I would lean towards ruling out architecture. If you think that paying constant attention to minute details and mathematical rules could become boring or maddening, it doesn't sound like a good fit.

When I project my unrealized ambition for adventure onto your other options, I must say Area Studies! But I know, it could be dangerous, and I openly admit I'm projecting ^_^
Click to expand...

I think you're right. As much as I love the design aspect of architecture, getting there sounds miserable for me. Haha I agree area studies could be quite an adventure, but I'm such an extreme introvert nowadays. Probably a better fit for your type than mine!

toska - I agree, I think in the back of my mind I'd already crossed psych and architecture off just with the concerns. Combining speech pathology and a foreign language actually sounds like a really great compromise. I like that idea the more I think about it.
 
Yeah likewise i wouldn't recommend architectural design. The thing about "any" field of design is it is totally goal orientated. You are expected to produce x amount of work by the deadline to the upmost standard. There are a lot of expectations on how you conduct yourself personally, you need to keep in mind that this is "business" and you arent being paid to satisfy anyone personally.

Some fields of design are a bit more liberal about these things then others. But yeah thats whats going on there, i have a book titled "How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul" ! I know its not architecture, but there are many commonalities between them.

It seems to me that when you mention the word "tangible" you are kinda also referring to "impact". You would like to know that you really made a difference towards helping another and perhaps if you helped more people in the amount of time spent youd really relish that. (I could be wrong)

Regarding the path you might choose, well im still trying to figure those things out myself! ;)
 
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Chamomile, to be honest, I didn't read any of your options. You're so caught up, how could a rational decision possibly be made? I say get as far away from this decision as possible. Then revisit it later. I think you'll gain some perspective and the correct option will present itself, which may even be one you have not yet considered!

- J, CPA
 
You need to ignore the lists and worry about what you personally feel. The lists and recommendations for INFJs on most sites are horrible. You know much better than them what is appropriate for you.

But you haven't said what you feel about any of these things. What do you feel about them? They are very different from each other.
 
I'm going to ask several question for a different perspective that would be good to ponder.

Which do you think rewards the most, either financially (pay, salary), mentally (sanity, growth), or spiritually (satisfaction, purpose)
Which do you think has the biggest chance of employment?
Which do you think you will enjoy the most?
Which do you think you can focus for a long time?
Which do you think is worth suffering for?
 
You may want to start with the schools you're interested in for grad school, rather than the topics. Some schools can be INCREDIBLY competitive, and it can be all but impossible to continue your schooling there (at the college where I work, speech path grad students have to have a near 3.75 GPA to just be noticed. Same with the grad level psychology program. And sometimes even when you do have the GPA they won't accept you because it's full).

Start out narrowing down where you'd like to live, and find out what colleges offer what you're interested in. Then contact those college advisors and ask them about their admissions policies (what scores you need, average GPA of their candidates, how long will the program last, do you have clinicals...etc).

It may help to narrow down what you're interested in, anyway.

Good luck! I hope it all works out for you!:mhula:
 
What about language studies, philology? You could be a teacher in some high school plus have the qualifications needed to be professional writer, translator (if it's not your country language) or literture-specialist. I was always good at English, I was lucky to have good teachers, plus INFJ are naturally good at languages :). 70% scored on verbal-linguistic intelligence proves it even more :D.
 
Well I studied business and languages worked in marketing mainly for several years and went back and qualified as a teacher. I wish I had studied pyschology because really I would rather work one on one with people.

Best of luck....
 
Thanks for all the responses :) I made the decision to pursue speech pathology and I feel very at peace with it. It helped to have some truly objective opinions, so I really appreciate that. I had an advisement interview last week at the school I'm applying to and finished the application process to transfer. The advisor said she didn't think I'd have any problem being accepted, so now I'm just biting my nails waiting to hear back in the next few weeks! And then scrambling to move (I hope).

I feel silly for taking so long to reach the decision, its a great combination of what I'm naturally great at and what continually energizes me. Plus, I'm looking forward to being challenged in a competitive program. Honestly, all it took was putting everything on paper and imagining it was someone else's life, so all my over-thinking and insecurities were out the window. Its the right place and the right time and I feel like God aligned all of this perfectly. I'm not particularly religious, but I've never felt this at peace or right with any career-type decision, so I'm just gonna go for it. If I fall on my face, I fall on my face :) Anyway, thanks for the awesome advice and suggestions! Its meant more to me than you could know.
 
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