Pigeonholing: How deep is too deep?

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Some applicants have a life passion. A dream they need to pursue. An all or nothing attitude.

And when these applicants apply to college they look for one thing and one thing only: Their highly specialized program.

Unfortunately, for many of these students this dream crumbles in the application stages when no golden ticket to the program of their dreams arrives.
And for some unfortunate students, a year or two in a specialized program has them clawing at the walls- desperate to get out.

So today I beg anyone who’s thinking of applying to a highly specific program to avoid the pitfall of the pigeonhole. Because if you’ve dug yourself in too deep, you may not have a way out.

Pigeon Holing is putting yourself in a specialized niche. This can be great, but can also have some pitfalls. So you must be very careful when you choose to do this.
When it comes to college admissions there are a few ways this happens.

You might only apply to colleges with your intended major. 
EX: You will only apply to schools with education undergrad. Or who have animal science. Or who offer Marine Biology. Or nanotech.
This type is fine. You have a passion and you need to explore it, and there’s no reason not to apply to schools with your program. There is still flexibility; it might just limit your options of schools a bit.

A subset if this is when you only apply to “your” programs
EX: Only applying to engineering programs
This is incredibly tricky as it can end in you with no acceptances at all. If you are planning on doing this make sure that you have at least one “safety” and one “match” school that you are applying to in “general” schools (not in your major) juuuusssttt in case the worst happens.

Or you might attend a “lesser” school for a specialized program  

EX: You are attending a 12 person, highly specialized research track in robotics, or got into the very good business school at a “meh” university.

This type is also okay. The quality of education at the university as a whole may not be great, but the training in your place of expertise is prestigious and awesome.
This can have a bit of a pitfall for two reasons. First- If you decide to change your path, you’re only at an okay place, so you may have to transfer to get the quality of education you want. Second- Always having to clarify your program is a pain in the butt.

The most dangerous path is to go to an all-or-nothing program with a high chance of burnout.
The most common of these types? Conservatory theatre/music/arts and 8-Year Med.  

These paths are high-risk high reward. If you stick with it your training is unparalleled and can give you a leg up. But if you decide it’s not what you want to do? You’re pretty screwed.

If you’re in conservatory theatre or music you may not be able to transfer out of your program into the university (ex: if you’re at Carnegie Melon for Opera or NYU Tisch for theatre you may not be able to transfer into such a good university for an academic subject). Which means you have to transfer schools or stick it out, coming out of college with a whole lot of arts training but no real-world skills.

If you’re in an 8-year med program (or any kind of accelerated program) there’s a high chance of burn out. But then what are you supposed to do? Re-apply? Start from scratch?

I’m not saying that these programs aren’t good. They’re incredible if they’re high quality programs that you’re passionate about.

But be wary of the risks of the pigeonhole before you sign on the line.

My recommendation with pigeonholing?

Make sure you have a back up. Make sure you’re learning other skills outside of your program. And most importantly: Make sure that you are ready to commit to something before you make that decision at all. 8-year med is great, but only if you’re passionate about being a doctor. Theatre conservatory is incredible, but only if you’re doing it to chase your passions and you have a “back up” while you’re waiting for your big break.

Remember, when it comes to pigeonholes it’s a high risk with a possibly high reward.