Navigating Uncertainty with the Field of Study Method

In Hacking College, Laff and Carlson (2025) introduce a novel method of career guidance for undergraduate students, which they call the Field of Study approach. This method involves connecting a student’s natural, hidden intellectualism with their vocational purpose through exploration of the people and organizations already working to solve the “wicked problems” they see in the world. It requires students to “test their ideas about that life pursuit by engaging with people in the world outside academe and then … use the entirety of the college curriculum and resources to explore that interest” (p. 25). Other approaches to career advising take the major of study at face value as a signal to employers about a student’s competencies. Accounting majors become accountants, biology majors become biologists, and so on. But Laff and Carlson argue that there is a hidden world of opportunity if students can learn the inner workings of the organizations that interest them. Rather than relying on their major to prepare for a vast and changing job market, students connect with individuals in their field doing the work they want to pursue, then select courses that will develop the competencies they have identified as necessary for their future.

By focusing on the interests and instincts students bring to college, Laff and Carlson’s Field of Study method honors students’ “cultural capital,” a concept introduced by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1985). This cultural knowledge is a type of currency innate to each person, ready to be leveraged and recognized by society. Cultural capital takes three forms: the embodied state, the objectified state, and the institutionalized state (Bourdieu, 1985). Laff and Carlson suggest coaxing the knowledge and capabilities that reside within students—the embodied state of cultural capital—to emerge in the context of the university so it can be valued as currency. 

Yosso’s (2005) theory of community cultural wealth expands upon Bourdieu’s work by applying a critical race theory lens to forms of social capital. She identified six forms of community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005). Aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant capital are centered on the experiences of People and Communities of Color (Yosso, 2005). In Hacking College, the Field of Study method honors the visible and hidden assets students bring to college and equips students with the navigational capital to maneuver through the complex bureaucracy of the university. Laff and Carlson’s method focuses on low-income and first-generation students, while Yosso focuses on Communities of Color. Both models emphasize resistance by minoritized groups to bureaucracy and hierarchy. 

The Field of Study method is centered around career advising, the resource on college campuses built for students trying to navigate their futures. Laff and Carlson encourage advisors to initiate these conversations with students as early as orientation week to spark reflection on ways to fill in the “blank spaces” left by requirements for degree attainment. They write, “Conversations are the key piece of talent development and should have a critical role in higher education for the future. Find the drive and talent in individual students, and teach them how to turn the college kaleidoscope, to customize and manipulate the undergraduate program while still fitting within the degree-requirement framework of majors” (p. 199). Students must do the work of conducting their “research investigative inquiry” and connecting their real-world findings with their course selections, but Laff and Carlson hold learning institutions accountable for improving academic advising to better serve students. It is up to universities and advisors to guide students through the process of personal and career exploration and development. I argue that this method can be utilized at two additional key points in the undergraduate experience: 1) during the admissions process to set students on a course for success, and 2) during the capstone or thesis planning process as students end their time on campus and launch their careers. 

 

Cross-Campus Buy-In

Admission counselors are tasked with recruiting students to the university, bringing in the tuition dollars that fund operations. This role is part sales, part advising, and is frequently the first interaction between students and the university. One of the first conversations admission counselors have with a prospective student is around choosing a major. This is a prime opportunity to interrogate students’ goals and aspirations and help them understand the myriad career possibilities that await them, rather than focusing on the university catalog. During his own interactions with students, Laff would often respond with further questions when his advisees brought him their career interests. He would say, “I don’t know what you mean by marketing. Can you describe what you think that is?” This question isn’t intended to belittle a student’s interests or embarrass them but to delve deeper into their own understanding of the detail of the work they want to do. These conversations should be prompted as early as possible in order to more accurately pair students with their vocational purpose and support the development of their cultural capital in the new environment of the university. This also provides a student with the navigational capital to better explain their hidden intellectualism and find resources on and off campus that will support their learning.

Most majors require a final project of some kind for students to demonstrate mastery of their content area. Capstone advisors and professors should set students up with real-world experiences, or better yet, have students design a final project that requires investigative research into the hidden job market. We frequently hear that students will go on to work in jobs that don’t yet exist. Continuing to develop the exploration of the Field of Study throughout the college years is crucial to a broad and deep understanding of the world of work when a student eventually graduates. 

In a review of You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Education by George Anders and A Practical Education: Why Liberal Arts Majors Make Great Employees by Randall Stross, Timothy Aubry (2017) describes the transferable skills between the liberal arts and the tech sector: “To thrive in these areas, one must be able to communicate effectively, read subtle social and emotional cues, make persuasive arguments, adapt quickly to fluid environments, interpret new forms of information while translating them into a compelling narrative and anticipate obstacles and opportunities before they arise” (Aubry, 2017). Additionally, scholars in career development have researched the effectiveness of constructing a career narrative. Bujold (2004) writes, “The narrative approach with regard to career is clearly different from the classic conceptualization of occupational choice as a process of matching the individual’s traits with job requirements.” Many other studies have examined the importance of describing one’s purpose for pursuing a particular path. Laff and Carlson focus more on finding meaning in one’s work than on matching skills to job descriptions, which supports this narrative approach.

 

Barriers and Political Context

There are many barriers to robust, personal advising. A lack of connection at large institutions is exacerbated by the volume of students and limited time for repeated individual conversations. Some universities may be too small or understaffed to offer resources that adequately support the breadth of student interests. Additionally, the Field of Study method relies on a match between a student’s interests and available opportunities. While stories of a professor connecting with a student over a shared extracurricular passion are inspiring, are they common? What happens to the students who don’t find a deep bond between their hidden intellectualism and the resources around them? Further, how do we advise students whose chosen career path has evaporated? Consider a student passionate about climate initiatives who watches environmental policies—and the agencies that create them—dismantled by the current presidential administration. Should those students pivot to other fields or will they be able to forge a path forward to address their wicked problem? 

The current presidential administration has reduced or destroyed entire fields of study. Half of the Department of Education was laid off in mid-March, USAID was shuttered, and the NIH has pulled funding from many projects. These federal agencies regulate industry, conduct research, and inform policy with their influence rippling into state and local governments across the country. The Trump administration has also frozen or retracted funding for universities across the country, many of whom engage in research that pushes the country forward academically and economically. At a time when higher education is under attack, how do career advisors help students see a future that may not exist? 

I argue that the Field of Study method can prepare students for the changing contexts they will encounter as they launch their careers, no matter the challenge. By investigating their field early and often, students should develop an understanding of the social, cultural, and political environments of their area of interest. Remaining on campus and entrenched in academic materials will not give students an understanding of the dynamic world outside the ivory tower. Although advisors cannot smooth the road ahead, they can equip students with the resilience and grit to navigate the twists and turns.

 

References

Aubry, T. (2017, August 21). Don’t panic, liberal arts majors. The tech world wants you. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/books/review/you-can-do-anything-george-anders-liberal-arts-education.html

Bourdieu, P. (1985). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.

Bujold, C. (2004). Constructing career through narrative. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64(3), 470–484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.12.010

Laff, N. S., & Carlson, S. (2025). Hacking college: Why the major doesn't matter—and what really does. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006