The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values – William S. Burroughs 

Assessing Your Identity and What You Value

The journey of achieving success in college begins with a single step: identifying your personal values. Personal values are your core beliefs and guiding principles. They shape the roles you play in daily life, color your interests and passions, and frame your thoughts and words. In essence, your values are a compass that guides your decisions and choices.

What are your values, then? Which are most important to you, and which are least important? How do your values fit into your educational goals? How do your educational goals relate to your future career?

To help you answer these questions, you can use a “self-assessment” survey. These surveys can help you evaluate your personal identity—your thoughts, actions, attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors—in relation to the task at hand, like going to college and preparing for a career.

Many different self-assessment surveys are available from college career centers and online sites. Some are designed as personality tests, like the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, or as inventories, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MTBI®), the most widely used personality inventory in history. You may also come across instruments designed as scales, measures, games, surveys, and more. These descriptors are often interchangeably used, although most often they refer to questionnaires. The distinctions are not as important as whether or not the instrument meets your self-assessment needs.

In the following activity, you will sample several self-assessment surveys to gain insights about your personal identity, values, and educational and career goals. By better understanding the interconnections between these important areas, you will be in a better position to make solid college and career choices.

Our Values Over Time

It’s also important to keep in mind that your personal values and interests can and will change as you get older. This is evidenced in research conducted by a number of contemporary social scientists, like Erik Erikson and Daniel Levinson. Their studies show how our values affect our choices and how our choices can characterize the stage of life we’re in.

For example, college students aged 18–26 tend to make choices that support a desire for autonomy. Later, during ages 27–31, young adults may rethink decisions and lean toward more permanent choices. From ages 32–42, adults tend to have a greater sense of commitment and stability, as shown by their life choices. In essence, our personal identity and values change over time, but they continue to affect our choices and can illuminate the stage of life we’re in ^[1].

It’s quite common to experience a significant change in perspective while you are in college. To better understand your relationship with your values, you can continually reassess what is important to you. Making a commitment to continually examine your thinking, actions, and choices will put you in a stronger position to manage changes in your educational goals, career, living situation, hobbies, friends, and other aspects of your life. Changes are an expected part of our many life transitions.

While you are in college, it’s important to choose responsible actions that align with your values, such as surrounding yourself with people and places that will help you move forward to achieve your personal and professional goals. Westchester Community College is dedicated to helping students identify the pathway that best aligns with their core values so they can set and achieve realistic academic and career goals.

Values of Westchester Community College