I’m 25 years old. Two years shy of the average age of Salt Lake Community College students. Declaring a major has been a difficult process for me. I’ve bounced back and forth between nursing, education and Mass Communications. But my generals are completed, and I have to make a decision—time is finite. Mine is running out.
So here I am, undecided—treading that line between picking something practical, or something that I’m passionate about. I’m leaning towards the latter. I guess you could say that I’m experiencing a mid-college crisis.
I learned about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment a year ago.
Unfortunately for me I discovered it through Google. The mistake ended up costing me roughly $130.00.
The results were delivered to me electronically through email, and I never had the opportunity to communicate with an actual human being.
I was ecstatic when I discovered that SLCC offers the same assessment with the Strong Interest Inventory, career report, and college profile for a measly $40.
There’s also the extra advantage of a human sitting across the table from you. So, I decided to repeat the assessments through the college.
The MBTI helps you understand your personality, and how certain career choices may be better for you. I discovered that I’m an INFP. It’s a little tricky to explain, but basically it means that I’m an introvert that relies heavily on intuition, feelings and perception.
The Strong Interest Inventory measures your interest. My results showed the theme code ASE—which means Artistic, Social and Enterprising.
The summary of the profile list your top ten strong occupations. Mine ranged from a Librarian to a Reporter.
It took an hour and a half for the career advisor to explain the results to me. It was worth it. She used interesting analogies to help me understand the personality types—often referring to a judge or a grocery store manager.
I must admit that I approached this journey with the hopes of it ending with a concrete decision. I naively thought that a career and major decision would magically appear in my lap—if I took the assessments, and met with an advisor. I was wrong.
The assessments weren’t a cure for my mid-college crisis, but they were a good start. There’s a career and major fair happening today. I think I’ll take advantage of it.
