I don't know what to study — 7 steps to decide

"I don't know what to study" is one of the most common Google searches during matura season. If that's how you feel, you're in the majority, not the minority. Below are seven concrete steps to help you organise your thoughts and decide without panic.

Step 1: accept that uncertainty is normal

Many 18- or 19-year-olds haven't had the chance to try working in the field they're considering studying. It's natural to struggle deciding based on guesses alone. Instead of hunting for one perfect answer, treat choosing a degree as the first step on a longer path you can adjust later.

Step 2: write down what actually interests you

Rather than thinking in terms of degree names right away, consider activities: do you enjoy analysing data, talking to people, creating things visually, fixing something technical, organising projects? These questions underpin the RIASEC model (Holland Codes), which sorts career interests into six clear types.

Step 3: take a career aptitude test

If you struggle to organise your thoughts on your own, a tool that does it for you in a systematic way can help. A career aptitude test lets you quickly narrow down a list of potential degrees based on your answers, instead of scrolling through hundreds of university offers one by one.

The free next.movv test

At next.movv we built a free, 10-minute online test based precisely on the RIASEC model. After completing it, you get a list of specific degrees and occupations matched to your profile, along with indicative salaries, automation risk, and which universities in Poland offer a given programme.

Step 4: talk to people who are already there

A conversation with a student on a programme you're curious about, or someone working in a given field, gives you knowledge no ranking can. Ask about the day-to-day reality of the job, the hard parts of studying it, and the things university brochures never mention.

Step 5: check market data before you commit

Interests aren't everything — it's worth cross-checking them against labour-market realities. The table below shows where to find reliable data.

Step 6: don't compare yourself to others

The fact that a friend has always known she wants to be a lawyer, or that a classmate is already set on medicine, doesn't mean something's wrong with you. Everyone matures at a different pace when it comes to career decisions, and trying to catch up to someone else's plan often ends in a choice that doesn't fit your own aptitudes.

Step 7: make a decision for today, leaving yourself an out

For more on making a decision without the pressure of perfectionism, read how to choose a degree you won't regret. In short: pick the programme that feels sensible today, based on what you know about yourself, and remember that the Polish education system allows for switching programmes, transferring universities, or using supplementary admissions.

What if I still don't know what to study after all this?

If you still feel lost after going through the steps above, that's a sign it's worth deepening your self-knowledge rather than rushing the decision. Try confronting yourself with actual experience — a one-day internship, volunteering, a conversation with several people from different industries, or retaking an aptitude test a few weeks later once your thinking has matured a bit. It's also worth checking whether you're mainly trying to avoid difficult subjects — if so, the article on how to choose a degree course walks through a full, structured process rather than just eliminating options.

Time pressure and decision quality

It's worth remembering that time pressure before an admissions deadline rarely leads to good decisions. If possible, start this process a few months before the application deadline rather than in the final week. That gives you time to test different sources of information — tests, conversations, market data — instead of deciding under deadline pressure.

What to avoid while searching for an answer

While looking for an answer to "what should I study," it's easy to fall into a few traps. The first is relying too heavily on a single source — say, one person's opinion or one random internet quiz — without cross-checking it against other information. The second is postponing the decision indefinitely while waiting for a "certainty" that will never arrive at a hundred percent. The third is being driven purely by fear — of a specific subject, of others' opinions, of failure — instead of a real analysis of your strengths. Simply being aware of these traps makes the decision easier.

Summary

The feeling of "I don't know what to study" usually fades once you turn it into concrete questions: what do I like doing, what's my career type, what does the labour market actually look like. Use a test, data, and conversations with others — and the decision becomes far less overwhelming.