Career path advice for an incoming college student?

[Kamala's side hoe]

From what I've heard a job that lets you make the world a better place/help people is often more meaningful than one with a lot of money.

Gonna push back on this one a bit.

Only take jobs that "make the world a better place" if that is truly where your heart is. Many of those jobs entail poor pay and high levels of stress/frustration, if not both.

There's no shame in getting a job that is just your 9-5 and pays the bills. You can make the world a better place and help people with the time, money, and stability that your boring job provides you.

For example, I'm an accountant at a bank. There's absolutely nothing sexy about this. Nobody tells their parents that they want to be an accountant when they are a child. Accounting is pretty dry and not very exciting, but it's something I am good at, I can tolerate it, and it pays me well. I make well above the median personal income and have a very high degree of job security and financial stability. It's this stability that gives me the peace of mind, free time, and money that allows me to volunteer at a homeless shelter and food bank, be active in a political party, partake in a neighborhoods activism group, and donate time, money, food/clothing, materials, and effort to various causes.

I know a lot of good people who went into careers like journalism, public policy, academia, nonprofits, psychology, healthcare, politics, etc. that entail making the world a better place, helping people, steering society, etc. to various degrees and many of them are honestly miserable. It's your life, day and night, and you have no break from it. You cannot escape it.

This is why I am fine with my life choice as an accountant. It's a 9-5 that pays the bills and enables me to do what I want outside of work, and gives me stability. There are days when I hate it, but when I sit back and think about my life, I am satisfied that I can do what I want with my life outside of work and get involved in things that interest me without it burning me out or me resenting my own passions.

There's absolutely no shame in doing the same for yourself.