Competitive Edge: How to Find the Degree to Fit Your Personality

Personality types word cloud on a vintage blackboard. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

As almost every successful person will try to tell you, finding the right career is all about matching what you plan to do to earn money with what you love and are truly passionate about. Obtaining a degree that matches your personality is the first step to a life-long career you don’t end up being bitter about later. Let’s take a look at how you can choose the best degree for your personality by matching some traits to some fields of study.

Curious Individuals

New discoveries are regularly made by students with curious minds. They’re the type of people who see the world at a different angle and want to show others how their viewpoint is correct. Degrees in biology, geology, history, and physics tend to mesh well with people whom display this personality trait. If you’re curiosity is a big asset in motivating you to learn think about a degree like these that will push you to find out more.

A Love for Beauty

We all have those certain aesthetics we are most partial to. Whether you have a knack for decorating with floral patterns, your eyes are always drawn to underwater scenery, or if admiring flower gardens is a habit of yours. If you’re the type of person who truly admires beauty, then a degrees in art, a language, or mathematics may be in your future.
If you’re curious as to the reason mathematics is included, scholars in that field regularly comment on how beautiful nature is. Mathematics is intimately linked with nature, from the structure of seashells to the growth of populations. You may be surprised how an aesthetic for organization and fitting puzzles together can make a Mathematics student very satisfied.

Motivation

You might be the type of person who has an innate desire to drive yourself or others towards success. You’ll stop at nothing until you’ve given everything you have, while trying to attain a goal. If this sounds like you, then there’s a few possible careers that might mesh well with you, which includes things like social work degrees, and business degrees. You may even try to obtain a coaching or athletic administration Master’s degree so you can help other athletes reach their goals. This would be a perfect degree for anyone who just has to see things through to the end and are endlessly motivated to get a job done.

A Desire to Help

Some people just want to ensure that others are treated fairly and are helped. They desire to give attention where it’s most needed so they no longer feel the physical or mental pain that certain conditions can inflict. The number of degrees that match with this unique personality trait are numerous. You may want to major in medicine to heal others, biology to find new cures, or psychology to help heal the mental scars that others have.

Finding the right career that matches your personality is one of the most difficult things you will ever be required to do, but it can be accomplished with a little forethought. Just keep in mind it may take pursuing one degree after another to finally find the one that matches you perfectly. You’ll eventually find the right match, and you’ll have a unique subset of skills from all the other degrees that didn’t quite make the cut.

“Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most her time hiking, biking and gardening. For more information contact Brooke via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.”