Random is definitely not a word I’d associate with the process of choosing my classes and major. Recently, planning my academics and extra-curriculars while trying to anticipate every outcome left me feeling dazed and confused. I overthought everything so much I didn’t know what to do. I went in for a counseling appointment at CP&R needing an outside perspective to lift me out of my fog of paralysis.

Enter Valinda and her magical Values Card Sort. Here’s how it works: you simply sort a stack of cards, each with a different value—an aspect of a potential professional role, in order of importance to you. My top ten values (in no particular order) are the following:

• Structure and predictability
• Knowledge
• Diversity
• Location
• Advancement
• Precision work
• Affiliation
• Exercise competence
• Time freedom
• Aesthetics

Because I’m a visual learner, ranking and rearranging the cards really helped me articulate my big picture end goals. Having this list in front of me enabled me to analyze exactly what I found so attractive about different career options. It also enabled me to compare them. Allow me to digress…

 When I was in elementary school, I was a huge dork. I loved books so much (Boxcar Children, Magic Treehouse, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Artemis Fowl were my favorites) that I would stay inside during recess to read. So it’s probably no surprise that my childhood dream was to become a librarian.

When I was in second grade, I got in trouble with Ms. Labagh for hiding a book in my lap and reading under my desk during “Reading” class. | Source: MagicTreehouseBooks.net

As I’ve gotten older, that little dream has been set aside by different experiences that led my decision to major in Economics-Accounting and minor in Art History. Since coming to college, I’ve been on track to become an accountant in the art world. It seemed to be the most logical marriage between my major and minor; my practical, orderly personality and my desire for unbounded learning and aesthetic stimulation…that, and I have to be financially independent after graduation.

So to return to my list of values above: being a librarian would satisfy most of the values I chose. But there probably wouldn’t be a lot of opportunities for advancement or a notable affiliation unless I worked at a big library. Being an accountant would satisfy a lot of these values too, but there wouldn’t be a lot of time freedom or aesthetic appreciation. Working my way through this list has helped me structure my analysis when considering other possibilities.

Last week, while researching internship opportunities to post on the NIC database as part of my responsibilities at CP&R, I realized there are so other many roles I’d love to try that meet my values. I could be a collections manager and be in charge of a museum’s art collection (a librarian for art!); or work in institutional development and help non-profits like Scripps and LACMA grow; or become an art appraiser and research artwork and market trends to value works of art. Reading through the job descriptions and comparing them with my values helped me picture myself in these roles.

In the words of AnnE, a fellow career consultant: “[Researching internships] is dangerous. I’ve changed my career path four times in the past hour!”

The revelation of there being so many potentially good fits was kind of scary. I’ve told myself and so many other people for so long that I want to be an accountant in the art world, that to let go of that goal at this moment isn’t something I can embrace just yet. I’m not ready to erase that identifier or change my major, mainly because I have no work experience in accounting (yet!). I don’t know what it’s really like. I hope my accounting interview next week goes well, but realizing that there are so many avenues beyond is a big reassurance too.