Which degree???

[Getiton1]

You are welcome Aubs,

The Instantcert family is a good group. Much like siblings sometimes we disagree, but overall we respect each other and stick up for the "family" which is earning credit by exam.

Since you are really totally unsure what you want to do when you grow up, you might want to talk to a guidance counselor from your high school and see if they can give you an honest idea of what they think you would be good at. Also, there are a lot of books on the topic. One of which is called "What color is my parachute?" Other options are to ask the High School or do a google search online and find a free of cheap Meyers-Briggs test to get a basic idea of where you fall as far as introvert/extrovert intuitive/analytical etc.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here's some other tests that point you to or from certain fields. For example and introvert would probably HATE being a reporter of newscaster. But an extrovert would likely thrive with all the attention and action.

Roger Birkman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Strong Interest Inventory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Really, no one can know what motivates and excites you better than... YOU!

Here's another idea. Why don't you take a few of the "Free Clep Prep" exams and see which subjects you do well in with little of no study? They are free after all! That will tell you where your strengths and weaknesses are.

As far as finding something you are good at but actually LIKE to do, I agree with Sanantone's idea of riding with someone in a career field you like. The idea of being an Health Aide, or Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) (also called Personal Care Assistant/PCA) is a good way to get your feet wet if you think you might want to be a nurse.

Another idea might be to look at your "likes" on social media. What do you gravitate towards. If it's always music, and you play an instrument, getting a humanities degree is not totally impossible (but it does require a capstone now at most of the Big 3). There might not be a lot of jobs out there for people with Humanities Degrees, but heck after a few CLEP's and a year in school, you will have earned a lot of credits toward a different 4 year degree anyway.

The choice is totally up to you. If you really want to be a nurse...go for it! Just understand it's quite a lot of work, and the courses at Excelsior are pretty easy, but the CPNE (which is mandatory) is seriously costly and stressful. If I had known what I knew after taking that exam, I might have just stuck it out in my 2 year county college program. For me, speed of earning that RN was my motivation. I had been an LPN for years, and it was hard to find a job in anything other than nursing homes, LTC facilities, or home care. I graduated #2 in my class, and was encouraged by my instructor to continue on. I am really glad I went into nursing because it opened so many doors and there are many options once you are done with school. Not everyone is cut out for it though. We nurses get yelled at, blamed, and disrespected quite often. The move it toward 12 hour shifts 3-4 days a week. Many times there are mandatory weekends and holiday shifts to be covered. Healthcare is ALWAYS on the clock as long as people get sick. There are not a lot of jobs at the LPN level where you get your weekends, evenings and holidays off. That's the biggest downfall of any healthcare career IMHO.

I suspect that law enforcement is somewhat the same. Nurses and cops serve the public and the public can commit a crime or get sick at any time of the day, 365 days a year. Yes, there are desk jobs, but most folks that go into public service want to roll up their sleeves and do something important for man kind.

Best of luck to you Aubs. Ask people you trust from different aspects of your life what they think after you find a few career options. If you are hearing/seeing the same things come up, go for what makes sense to YOU!

Okay, hope that helps,
T

Holy cheezits, these are fantastic responses! Thank you so much!!

ejcompere - I also liked the illustration/animation option but the schools that I liked were all too expensive. My parents want me to get a more "useful" degree anyway. I still hold out hope that one day I can get a degree in illustration or find a program that I really like and pay for it myself.

UptonSinclair - I considered that too! I love working with animals (except for euthanasia, puts me in tears) but I can't find any local programs for them and the ones I do find put me into debt up to my eyeballs.

Getiton1 - Holy moses, your answers have been an incredibly huge help. There's a local community college that has an LPN program which is what I was looking at. I had no idea that Excelsior wouldn't take me if I didn't have it. :/
I'm keeping the nursing option as a back up plan. Apart from artistic fields, I don't have any other interests. I have no idea what I'm good at and the only thing my mom says she could see me doing is working at a convalescent home because she thinks I work well with older people (to be honest, I'm worried about upsetting them so I tread lightly). My dad wants me to come work with him at his airport job that he doesn't like anymore.

After reading through this thread about people getting degrees based on what they see on TV.....I can understand it. It's the only thing you "know" about a certain profession. You've, supposedly, seen it in action, it's your one point of reference in the abyss that is figuring out what degree for what job in the unpredictable future.
I have spent years researching jobs but articles and statistics...they don't cover the emotional aspect of the jobs, the heart of the work, sometimes they don't even cover the REAL work! They'll give you a brief, happy synopsis of a positive sounding job and you're hooked because it sounds so easy.
That's what's frustrated for so much over the past few weeks: how can you know what job you want to do when you haven't actually done it? How can you know that nursing is what you want to pursue for two, four, etc. years when you haven't cared for a single patient and you CAN'T care for a single patient until you have that degree under your belt? It's all skewed around to make no sense.

Anyway, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU soooooo much!