For a long time, the question of “what do you want to do in the future?” never had a clear answer for me. I knew what I didn’t want to do–law and medicine–but beyond that, nothing struck me as my natural calling. Instead of developing a passion for anything throughout high school, despite my attempts to explore as many clubs as possible, I ended up back at square one, still completely lost on what path to take.
So, without any obvious direction, I gravitated towards what seemed like the safest, most straightforward option: business. My extracurriculars reflected that assumption, and instead of joining the coding club or the robotics team, I spent my time in DECA, debate, and the school newspaper. Those clubs clicked with me, because they let me rely on skills, I was already comfortable with, like leadership and organization. As a result, business schools quickly became the default goal, and Ivey, in particular, stood out the most. The case-based learning model appealed to me far more than traditional lectures, and competing in Ivey’s high school case competition only reinforced that direction. At the time, it felt like confirmation that this path was made for me.
However, when application season rolled around in grade 12, that certainty disappeared. Even after four years of involvement with various clubs in high school, I could not envision myself pursuing, for the rest of my life, any of the paths I had explored–not even business, a choice I was dead set on just one year prior. At that point, I realized I was questioning whether I truly wanted business, and to go to Ivey, or if I had simply been following this path out of habit. It became clear that I needed to weigh my strengths and interests more carefully before fully committing to the business route.
Around that time, I received an incredibly helpful piece of advice given to me by a mentor: if you don’t know what you’re passionate about, choose something you’re good at. Since I was always decent at math and the sciences, engineering became a serious consideration. However, the problem with choosing engineering was that it felt like I was abandoning business and the years of building leadership experience in business-related clubs. Meanwhile, choosing business felt like I was ignoring an important part of my academic strengths.
After days of weighing my options and debating with myself, I realized I didn’t have to choose between the two. Ivey offers a dual degree program with any other major, so instead of forcing myself into one single path, neither of which I was fully set on, I chose both. I was told that the engineering and Ivey dual degree program would be a hard path to traverse, but I knew that wasn’t a reason to avoid it. Looking back now, choosing engineering instead of a pure business program was the right decision, since studying business alone would not have been fulfilling for me. Engineering gave me the kind of technical exploration and intellectual challenge I didn’t realize I was missing, pushing me to work hard academically. Ironically, the decision I made in the final two months of high school was completely different from the path I had imagined for myself since grade 10.
Now that I’ve finished semester one of first year, I’m very happy with where I ended up, and things feel far clearer than they did before. Even with the fast-paced environment in engineering, I kept myself busy by joining a variety of activities, diversifying just as I had done in high school. At the start of the year, I joined over five clubs as a way to test what actually interested me. Over time, I realized some of them weren’t for me, and that it was perfectly okay to only pursue the extracurriculars I liked. Ultimately, figuring out what fits and what doesn’t has been the most important part of my journey here, and it’s something I continue to explore beyond high school.
A few things stand out to me in hindsight, which I now offer as advice for others who are in the same boat as I was. First, extracurriculars don’t need to perfectly match your major, because the skills you need can be developed in a plethora of environments. Many of the skills I rely on today, like leadership, communication, and problem-solving, came from experiences that didn’t directly relate to engineering or business. Additionally, feeling uncertain at the beginning is not a flaw; clarity often comes with time and exploration. Because of this, keeping doors open can be more valuable than committing too early to a single path.
If I were to sum up my journey so far, I’d say that not having a clear passion is nothing to be ashamed of as it was the reason I was able to ultimately carve out a path that fits me. Personally, I hope that this mindset of curiosity is what will guide me through the next chapters of university and beyond.