Each year, students come to American college and university campuses to embark on a new journey in their lives. For most, it is an opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue careers in their chosen fields. For some, it is an experience encompassing much more than just acquiring knowledge and skills. For others, higher education is a life-changing event. Regardless, most students' primary purpose is to prepare for some form of life's work. Institutions of higher education usually provide students with a variety of opportunities to help them find and prepare for this life's work. Numerous terms are used to describe the process: "career exploration," "career development," "career counseling," and "life mapping." The process usually involves a battery of career tests to determine the student's personality, interests, skills, and abilities. This chapter describes the role of vocation in career exploration and first-year orientation courses.