Passion or pay? When choosing a major, college students are often faced with the age-old question: Do they want to pursue a career that makes them money or a career that they love?

However, some people don’t believe in this polarity, arguing that money is not a hindrance to students choosing where to direct their futures.

Jill Batten, the strategic director of advising and career services at Drake University, believes this is a misconception.

“With motivations, there’s a whole host of them, right?” Batten said. “Sometimes it’s money, sometimes it’s passion, sometimes it’s parents. Sometimes it’s high school teachers that said, ‘Gosh, you’re really good at this or you excel in this area. Have you ever thought about college?’” 

At Drake, students have more than 140 majors across six colleges and schools to consider. Selecting multiple majors and adding minors or concentrations is a path many students take in order to achieve both professional and personal success. According to the Drake University Registrar, approximately 35% of students are pursuing more than one major.

Because of that flexibility to add on multiple majors, students can come to Drake to follow their passion while also having the opportunity to pursue an entirely different profession. First-year Jaisel Bott found this while choosing majors.

“I love music with all my heart. So I knew when I was picking schools, I knew I wanted to do something in music, but I probably was not going to do it as a career,” said Bott, who is majoring in biology and music. “I didn’t give up my passion. I just didn’t want to make that how I had to make my living. I wanted it to be my own spot of joy.” 

Changing career motivations

Drake allows students to adapt and shift to new areas if they find that their motivations change, said Batten. With an institute full of different major and minor opportunities and a supportive admissions office, switching to a new field can be done with ease.  

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “Within 3 years of initial enrollment, about 30 percent of  undergraduates in associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs who had declared a major had changed their major at least once, and about 1 in 10 students changed majors more than once.” 

Because of how many students change their majors after entering college, tracking motivations becomes difficult. A student could enter college following a salary, but find a new, more motivating interest once there. The admissions office attempts to help students work through this process.

“What motivates a student to pursue either of these paths is not tied to our work in admission but is fully driven by students and their professional goals and personal interests,” Dean of Admissions Joel Johnson said in an email.

College is a time of personal growth and development, and a change in field of study can reflect this.

“There is no better time than when you’re in college to explore what you are passionate about,” Batten said.

Finding a balance between passion and pay

Emily Hazzard is no stranger to exploring her passions at a collegiate level.

“I knew I liked things like personal finance, but that is not representative of the finance industry as a whole,” said Hazzard, who is a junior majoring in finance with minors in risk management and insurance. “Because at Drake, you don’t take finance classes your first year, I was hoping that I would like it. It was a cross-my-fingers type of thing.”

While Hazzard did not end up switching majors after her first year, she said finance gives her the ability to be flexible in her career path after graduation. Hazzard discusses the many different directions the finance career could take her, with the major at Drake acting as a jumping off point.

“There is a good chance that while I am choosing the major I like and the thing I am interested in, there is also a good chance that I will veer a path from there based on money,” said Hazzard. “I chose finance because I did think I would like the material, but for me [pay] has always been intertwined.”

While Hazzard and Bott entered Drake with slightly different motivations, both agree on the idea of stability.

“I am more fulfilled [because] I have both of them in my life,” said Bott. “I think making money does contribute to the happiness of the career. I feel job stability will make me happy, but I want to be happy in the job that I pick.”