How is "tell me about your career vision?" different from "what are you most passionate about?".
The thing is when I wrote about my career vision, I almost started the essay saying "I have always been passionate about ...". So, when I saw this essay on what are you most passionate about, I just got confused.
Passion may or may not lead to a career. If it does, you are very fortunate. If it doesn't, you will be fortunate to be able to pursue your passion in your free time...
I assume that the prompt you quote asked about your career "vision." That means your ideal future career, what you would envision this to be. You may or may not have to write about your passion if unrelated. (If related to your career, YES. If not, NO.) Vision means future, so you can dream a bit here. Write about what your ideal career would be. That should speak from you inner self/core. If passion comes out, all the better. Good luck!!
Thanks linmark --
Yeah, these are very different questions, but they can be answered in the same way. Maybe what you are most passionate about is American law, so you will be going to law school. Maybe, though, what you are most passionate about is individual human rights, and that is why you want to study law. Or maybe you are passionate about language, and that is why you want to study law.
Maybe you are most passionate about selfless work and alleviating suffering in the world. If so, maybe you are interested in psychology, education, and medicine, but maybe you need to start by working toward a degree in education and then in the future you will take up other subjects. The important point is to show that you know where you are going and what you are doing.
As much as I agree that both can be considered academic questions relating to your future career, the admissions office may want to know a little bit more about you besides your passion to read law books or to write research papers relating to your studies. I think the passionate question allows you to expand upon your other interests outside of your studies. Schools want to know that you are a well rounded adult who is capable of making decisions not only in the eductional world but in the real world as well.
Passions could include reading, family, etc. Imagine what would be absolute necessity in your future life.
- Good luck
I agree. In my opinion, these two questions are quite different. If you are fortunate, passion can lead to an ideal career. However, many times, what you are passionate about cannot be practically translated into a vocational agenda. For example, you may be passionate about eating or playing computer games, yet it would be very difficult to find respectable jobs directly related to your passion. The closest you can get to eating is becoming a chef, but you might not like cooking or baking. Of course, you can learn, but it just might not be the thing you desire to do.
Another particular example would be writing letters. Many people are passionate about hand-writing personalized messages to their relatives or loved-ones, but I assure you that it is difficult to find a letter-writing career that will support you (and perhaps your family).
So in short, "career vision," in my opinion, addresses what you would like to do for a job, and "passion" implies what you plainly love to do.
My Biology 101 professor, who is crazy about soil bacteria (clearly, not many people are) said to us that he hoped we could be as satisfied with life as he is, making passion a career.
Fours year later, I think I agree with him more than ever that you have to work extremely hard and take have real good luck to do what you love to do. To give a superficial example, one can have a career vision based on need rather than what the person is most passionate about: "I see being an accountant a good thing. Even though I love math enough to join the academia, I will become an accountant, because every company needs an accountant."
good luck!
very difficult to find respectable jobs directly related to your passion
This is an interesting conversation. It sure is nice when you can do something you are passionate about as your means of livelihood. Otherwise you have to spend your work week doing something that you are not passionate about.
The answer is something little children know well, I think. Little children are passionate about almost everything, fascinating as the world is.
Also, all of these insights in this thread made me think of the DIFFERENCE between what you want to 'be' and what you want to DO every day. You might want to BE an attorney, because you think of an attorney as a successful, clear thinking person, but then maybe you do not like what you end up having to DO every day.
I know a girl very interested in animals, and she considered being a veterinarian, but then she realized that neutering animals and putting them to sleep might be a big part of the work! She liked the idea of working with animals, but she did not know if that was what she wanted to DO every day.
Anyway, I enjoy this thread and all your ideas!
Also, all of these insights in this thread made me think of the DIFFERENCE between what you want to 'be' and what you want to DO every day.
I completely agree! This reminds me of what my physics teacher always told the class :] He was a wise guy.
Yes, I used to make a joke when talking to people entering college... about a proctologist.
He wanted to BE a physician because of the prestige and the high income, but he ended up specializing in proctology and what did he end up looking at every day.
No offense intended to any proctologists out there. It's just an example.
It's the same with many other professions. I might want to be a soldier or a lawyer because of the way I think of those people... the way they earn my respect with their skill... but it is not what I want to DO every day! So it is important to me to urge students to think of what they want to DO 40 hours or more each week.
