Many teenagers dread contemplating their careers. In school systems today, teenagers are constantly being pressured to decide on a career while their minds are still developing. This overwhelming pressure on students can lead to stress-induced decision-making, even causing them to stray from the passions they truly want to pursue to choose a traditional career path.
“The bigger question is: What am I going to do with my life?” said Melissa Turnipseed, a 6-12 grade computer science teacher, speaking about her experience of being around students.
Many students today think they have to figure everything out at this very moment.
Mikailah De Coteau, 13, shared, “They [students] feel pressured or just feel nervous because everyone else might seem to have it figured out, but they don’t.”
When surveying 25 peers aged 13-15, I found that 79% began seriously considering a career path between ages 8 and 12. When asked whether school has pressured them to decide on a career path in a rush, 74% said yes.
While it is not true that students have to figure out their careers right now, the bombardment from schools and career programs can drive that narrative. While these things can have their benefits, they can also lead students to think they need to settle down on a career now.
A 2025 survey conducted by Junior Achievement USA, a non-profit organization focused on preparing youth for the global economy through real-world experiences, found that modern teens tend to believe they need to make the right choice for their future success.
The survey gauged the views of 1,000 Americans aged 13-18. It indicated that “The pressure to make the right choice is significant. 88% of teens report feeling pressure to follow a specific educational or career path. While most (63%) say they would prefer a good-paying job even if it comes with stress.”
8th-grade Georgia Studies teacher, Amethyst Clowers-Davis, said, “I think the first thing that stresses them may be the home environment where they may have a parent that wants to guide them in a different direction from the way in which they want to go.”
The Junior Achievement study then explained that other teenagers are exploring beyond the norm to create lives for themselves. Many of them consider side hustles (62%) and gig work (38%) as potential ways to make a living.
De Coteau noted, “I feel like a lot of my passions revolve around art. Even hair, being a hairstylist. I was told again, it’s not a real job. It’s a side hustle … but it shouldn’t be what you want to do in life. I have to find something that can give me a degree, master’s — important stuff.”
Kingston Johnson, 15, shares similar views. “I think that choosing a career early on can make a student feel like they’re closed inside a box,” he said, “and they can’t really explore… and it’s permanent, and they can’t change what they want to do.”
A 2013 article by The Guardian, by author Abigail Lane, showed how teens feel overwhelmed by the extensive information they receive. The article shows that teenagers don’t undermine having more information than they need. But when they are given so many options and have a quick turnaround to make a decision, it does more harm than good by stressing them out with too much.
Even over a decade later, teenagers still feel the same way.
The 2025 article by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an economic organization that promotes policies to help further economics, found that, “Students have never been so unsure about their career prospects – many exhibit great anxiety, uncertainty and confusion about the state of their career preparation.”
Johnson said, “I also think that time is the biggest thing … you kind of feel rushed, and you feel like you just have to choose one. And that might not be what you’re passionate about and want to do entirely.”
A 2023 article by Sage Journals, an online platform that hosts peer-reviewed academic journals, showed that mental health issues, specifically depression, and career indecision have a strong correlation. The article showed that when a teenager has depressive thoughts or symptoms, their ability to make sustainable career decisions is hindered, and their thought process can be limited. They suggested that teachers be mindful of mental health concerns that can affect student decision-making.
De Coteau notes that, while in school, she has seen many of her peers stress over career choices, even in middle school. Lots of them felt panicked by the pressure to know what to do with their lives.
A 2025 survey by Gallup, a polling organization that collects data on public opinion, showed teenagers’ preparation for college. The study found that among 1,327 teenagers aged 16-18, only 21% felt very prepared to earn an associate’s degree and 28% to earn a bachelor’s degree.
The stressful environment students are in can be attributed to this lack of preparation.
A survey in 2022 by Ruffalo Noel Levitz, a non-profit consulting firm, noted “… mental health is one of the top reasons many college students are considering dropping out of college … more than three-quarters of bachelor’s degree students who have considered dropping out in the past six months cite emotional stress as the reason. College presidents have also recognized the mental health crisis in their campuses, with nearly 70 percent of presidents identifying student mental health as among their most pressing issues.”
In our vast economy, it can be hard to secure a job, even with a degree in hand. CNBC, a global news organization, showed in a 2025 article that, “As for the youngest workers, over 2 million people earned their bachelor’s degrees in the spring of 2025; just 30% of those graduates reported finding a full-time job in their field, according to a June and July survey from Cengage Group, an education tech company. Many members of Gen Z are now competing in an increasingly tight job market and left questioning whether a college degree is still the key to landing a stable job.”
Simeon Stephens, 19, feels that teenagers stress over career opportunities more than ever now. He mentioned, “… just stressing on that next big opportunity they think they [have] to get in the career they want. And if they get redirected, they think that it’s the end of the world, and they’re not going to get that big break in the field.”
It can be hard to do what you love while still providing for yourself. While students consider this during career decision-making, parents can be a voice of reason and help structure these choices.
Erica Durham, 52, said that, from a parent’s perspective, you have to make sure your kids have an open mindset and know what their plan is for the long run. You have to make sure your career will sustain you, help pay bills, and ensure you can take care of yourself.
Many teens feel a sense of fulfillment when going into a career where their work is meaningful to them.
A 2024 study by the American Psychological Association, a research organization of professional psychologists, noted, “Work as a calling refers to a sense of purpose that leads people toward personally and socially fulfilling work. Meaningful work is experienced when a person believes their work accomplishes something significant and worthwhile.”
Many people have to sacrifice the things they are truly passionate about just to ensure they earn a good salary. Some students feel that they shouldn’t have to choose between the two while still in middle or high school. When the topic of careers comes up for students, many think they have to figure it out right now.
Clowers-Davis said, “You major in something that’s going to feed you. And minor in something that you love. And then combine the two until the one you have passion for works out for you.”
A 2023 study by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public land grant research university — ranked #36 in National Universities, concluded, “Although meaningful work and high salaries are both perceived as highly important job attributes when evaluated independently, when presented with tradeoffs between these job attributes, participants consistently preferred high-salary jobs with low meaningfulness over low-salary jobs with high meaningfulness.”
Stephens mentioned, “That can just lead to them hopping into a career because of factors like money, or what their peers or family perceive as best for them. And they’re not doing something that fits their skill set best or what they enjoy.”
But even with all of this, people still look forward to the upsides of early-career planning. A 2026 study by Career Fit, a program designed to help people make sustainable career choices, stated, “Education experts agree that beginning this journey early helps young people anticipate not just what they might want to do, but why, which in turn improves confidence and academic engagement.”
Turnipseed concluded, “Be alright with the idea that this is not a one-time finalized decision. More so, what am I good at? What am I doing that enables me to feel fulfilled myself, but also know that I’m providing a purpose or service to others.”
