Road Map...or maybe GPS?

I've noticed a trend recently. Every time I ask a person in an interesting career position about how they got there, the answer always seems to be some variation on "things just fell into place".

I had to do 3 interviews for a paper in one of my classes last year. They were to be people in fields that interested me for my career. I want (I think!) to pursue something in non-profit or government at this point. We won't discuss the 30 page term paper I had to write based on those interviews *shudder*. My subjects were: the mayor of the city where I live, the executive director of the local public radio station, and a friend of mine who used to be the director at a local nature center. The mayor and the radio exec (haha I'm sure she would laugh at being called that! Sounds different than her actual job like she should be wearing a powersuit and always barking into a cell phone!) both set out to do completely different things originally. Neither had training, background or education in their fields prior to starting in them (to be fair, our mayor was a city commissioner before becoming mayor so it's not like she had no experience to be a good mayor). My friend, however, did go to school and get a science degree. She was hired on at the nature center and by chance became the director. She is no longer in that position. I recently heard of another person in a high public position in city government who did not set out to even work in government and certainly not as a higher official. He started out as an accountant for the city and pursued education in the field as he went (this is 3rd hand information so my apologies to the official if it's at all inaccurate).

Why is it that all these people "fell" into positions (and management positions at that)? Is it that their age (the 3 who happened into their fields and are still in those positions are 10-20 years older than I and my friend who went to school for her position and whose career is still evolving is my age) indicates how society allowed more "happening" into a position than it does now? Is this still the way it works? Can we plan our careers? Does it ever work out when we try to plan our careers?

I've been thinking about what i want to do next in my work part of my life. Not just where do I want to be employed when I leave my current position...that's not a question I'm asking at this moment. I'm a Senior in college at the close of this semester. I know I want to finish this degree (BA in Public Administration). If I want to pursue government (especially locally), I should probably get my Masters. I don't want to jump immediately into more school when I graduate with my BA. I eventually would like to go to law school but that has to wait till we can leave our city as we don't have one here. If I want to pursue non-profit, what aspect? Do I want to concentrate on my pet issues (the environment, women's rights, Liberal ideas)? Do I want to just get my foot in the door and go from there? I've even toyed with the idea of starting my own business that works with non-profits...sort of an entrepreneurial NGO.

But is the education or the pursuit of one path pointless? Will fate/circumstances guide my path? What's my responsibility in the process? Just keep my eyes open or make decisions and be open to changing them? Or both?

I have a lot more questions than answers today! I wish I had a map to show me where to turn to get to which destination. I wish I had a phone book of people who I could get information from to make this decision. If you think you have information that would help, please let me know! Is this common for my generation or just a late bloomer like myself? Are you struggling with similar decisions? It would be nice if we can all find the answers together!