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Career suggestions!
Farthing
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hello.
I'm trying to decide what uni course to go into next year (in Australia). I'd love some help / adivce on what to go into, especially from people already in the professions they're reccomending.
A little about me:
I've gotten pretty good grades so far, especially in maths and sciences. If all goes according to plan, I should be able to get into any course I want at my chosen uni. I've been a bit of a slacker, my grades are only so good because I can grasp abstract concepts relatively easily. I can focus well on a task I don't understand, however once I understand it, I find it painful and extremely dull to repeat something I 'get'. Not sure if I'd step up my game or not, were things to get more difficult.
Right now I'm thinking I'll study medicine, but I've heard it can be extremely intense study. Because I'm in Australia I wouldn't end up in massive debt for doing it, though.
I'm also somewhat considering law, I think it would be interesting to get new cases all the time, but I simply know so many lawyers that hate it (uncle's a senior counsellor and wouldn't reccomend it.)
So guys, what did you all do at this crossroads of your life? How did it turn out?
I'm trying to decide what uni course to go into next year (in Australia). I'd love some help / adivce on what to go into, especially from people already in the professions they're reccomending.
A little about me:
I've gotten pretty good grades so far, especially in maths and sciences. If all goes according to plan, I should be able to get into any course I want at my chosen uni. I've been a bit of a slacker, my grades are only so good because I can grasp abstract concepts relatively easily. I can focus well on a task I don't understand, however once I understand it, I find it painful and extremely dull to repeat something I 'get'. Not sure if I'd step up my game or not, were things to get more difficult.
Right now I'm thinking I'll study medicine, but I've heard it can be extremely intense study. Because I'm in Australia I wouldn't end up in massive debt for doing it, though.
I'm also somewhat considering law, I think it would be interesting to get new cases all the time, but I simply know so many lawyers that hate it (uncle's a senior counsellor and wouldn't reccomend it.)
So guys, what did you all do at this crossroads of your life? How did it turn out?
Farthing on
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I went to college not really knowing what I wanted to do, but was good in math and science. I started out as a Mechanical Engineer just because. I ended up not liking it, and graduated with a Multidiscp degree in Math & Japanese with the Mech Eng minor. And right now I'm teaching English in Japan, which I'm enjoying a ton.
My path-
And dont see your studies as a means to an end. You have to find it fun to study the subjects (there will be courses you will hate with a passion). Otherwise you wont be motivated enough to see it through to the end.
I didnt know what I wanted to do so I went for theoretical physics. After barely getting through the first year, I came to the conclusion that I didnt want to be a theoretical scientist and that I didnt have the necessary skills to really study, because learning came so easy before.
I started to shop around at uni and finally settled on earthsciences with a environmental major. I got to go on field trips 3 times a year, had practicals and in between I learned how the earth came in to being, how it supports us and that films like the core etc are fictional.
My master was environmental and resource managment with an energy major. And it was really fun. I now do soilresearch and polutionclean ups. A different project every 2 days/week and I meet lots of different people.
I think it's interesting that nobody seems to have ended up doing the same thing they were when they began. Perhaps I should be agonising over this less. My hobbies generally revolve around problem-solving... The way I see it, there's elements of that in every job. I gravitate towards medicine because of job satisfaction, curing things seems like it would be a satisfying way of earning a penny.
Dirtmuncher, I find it very hard not to see my studies as a means to an end. While I'd like to enjoy the study as well, I feel that it's most important to end up in a career I'm going to like. (Although If I ever won the lottery I would probably go back to university and spend my days studying.)
I'm heartened by the fact that you've all managed to end up doing things you enjoy, I suppose I'll just go for med and see where it takes me, as seems to be your collective advice.
Edit: Yeah Zedar, I see your point. However, knowing very little about all the world's professions, my approach so far has been to sound out as many people as possible on what they did, and how it worked out. I don't mind too much about making bucketloads of cash, but it would be nice. From all the doctors I talked to I found none that hated what they do, which makes it seem attractive.
Double Edit: I fail at paragraphing.
not make a decision now
i wish i had honestly asked and found out more about what was available, because then you won't just be like, oh, i'm graduating college, time to apply to whatever random jobs i can
but if you know whats out there you can start guiding your courses and most importantly doing internships / research during school, and testing out things
and if you think you wanna try and be a doctor, go for it man, but as you go through school try doing some things like research / summer programs or whatever to try and get an idea if that's what you want
Of course, if you really want to be a doctor, there's nothing wrong with that. If you end up as a radiologist or a radio-oncologist, you'll be working with medical physicists!
Nintendo Network ID: PhysiMarc
options, options, options.
Reppin' the dark side over here.
If you're good at math and statistics with a good focus on problem solving, you could always be a trader. You're doing the same thing every day (I think that's what defines a job) but the situation in the market is always different and the energy level and tension is quite high. Plus, there's the money. The sweet, sweet money. Like, make an attending look like a pauper before you're old enough to even be out of residency.
Basically, traders make $$ by making a market for certain goods or financial instruments. I personally always found physical commodities trading and futures trading the most interesting, but I'm an outsider.
I am studying history because I love it and it interests me. However, I want to be a doctor and so I am taking the pre-med classes needed to get into medical school.
If you are really considering medicine, you should try to shadow some doctors/medical professionals. It can really open up your eyes.
Same here for the most part - wanted to build boats when I was ten and now I'm doing it, though on a slightly larger scale than what my childhood imagination came up with
So OP, if you're reasonably sure where you wantto go to collge, go through their deparent list, pick three or four that make you go OOOH COOL and the call then to set up a visit. Lots of science/engineering depts will even hook you up with students so you can ask about workload and internships/co-ops
If you're interested in the medical field but not sure about research/doctoring, look into biomed engineering. It includes stuff like biometric interfaces, robotic prosthetics and all sorts of other super neat stuff
I'd advise against Biomed Eng as an undergraduate degree unless you're pursuing either an MD or a MS/PhD in Biomed Eng. It's such a broad degree that you really don't get any specific set of skills that are so important for an engineer. It requires concepts from electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering, so there's not enough time to really learn about any of them well.
If you do want to get a job in those things Usagi mentioned, go for whatever area of engineering you are interested in and just focus your future job outlook on those fields. The only area I can see not being related to the biomedical field is civil engineering, and maybe industrial/systems.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Also I just wanted to relate a don't worry too much anecdote: of the 15 people in my mech/marine eng graduating class, only three or four of us are still doing marine eng. The others have gone on to teach high school, become lawyers, get into finance, start writing novels and become full time ballet dancers. So your path is really more dictated by your ambitions than your specific degree
In addition to the above, doctors are subject to many hazards and dangers ranging from illnesses to just accidents that could change your life forever.
but there was always something so offputting about it
but then i ended up not being focused and not doing the sciency techy things i really wanted to do anyway
oh well
---
there are a number of good biomed programs at certain schools, that is what i almost did actually, before i decided i disliked chemistry
but people are right, it is a pretty broad discipline
you could even do EE or MechE or something and then go masters in biomed if you wanted to
but half the BME majors i know ended up being premed anyway, which is baffling to me, because that's just a ton of extra work above and beyond what you need for premed
It's cool man, the dark side isn't for everyone. I'm not really the best fit for it all the time, but I find the stuff really interesting. The closest analog I can come up with is playing WoW 24/7, if wow was really ugly and microsoft excel. You get similar personalities, similar obsessive tendencies, similar eternal timeframes, similar bickering over discretionary rewards, similar annoying upstarts...it's basically world of warcraft but in an office environment and all the time.
But oh god the money, the challenge and the prestige and the money.
This sounds like my future military career.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Comparisons have been drawn on both sides of the table in the past. Except of course we're generally a bunch of spineless cowards when it comes to actually tough situations. I've seen a hilarious number of money managers freak out during a crisis because they have zero leadership skills and no internal discipline.
Don't bother with Biomed Science if you plan on graduating with it, as people usually only take it because their TER wasn't good enough to get into Med and employers know this. Biomed Eng is a better bet, and you won't find many postgrad courses in it in Australia that are worth the paper they are written on because postgrad engineering hasn't really taken off here yet.
Have you also considered becoming a pharmacist?
Don't worry Erios, nobody thinks being a trader is prestigious
Seriously, if you're worried about prestige just about any other profession is better. If you want to work normal hours, trading is more or less out of the question. The money is great though.
Well The biomedical science thing is a dual degree Bsc/MBBS, actually the most competitive thing to get into as an undergrad, you can't go straight in. The other options would be bachelor of health science/MBBS or Arts/MBBS.
I've thought about pharmacy, but it didn't seem like it would be as challenging. More,
"oh hello, I would like this prescripton"
"here you go."
The dark side is tempting, and I find economics really interesting. I can't help but wonder though, will I want money that much? I know that there's a point of diminishing returns somewhere. On the other hand, if I find myself despising everything medical I'd probably do a Bachelor of Taking Money From Other People and become stinkin' rich (with luck). The idea of making a lot and retiring early is attractive (is that what people do?).
My father did engineering, thought it was an interesting study but boring careeer. I don't think it's for me - so no, I haven't really had a good look at them.
Practical practical practical. Find out what jobs are in demand (pretend you are looking for a job), see which one you could do/enjoy (but it doesn't have to be a passion or hobby, that's why we call them passions and hobbies), and find out whether your university has a good program for it. Internships are golden. Experience virtually always trumps academics, so find a program that will let you go into interviews saying "Oh yeah, I've done that."
Pharmacy might not be an out for you, but not all lawyers are evil. There are many field in law (corporate, family, immigration) and not everything is Law & Order.
There's also dentistry in the medical field.
Just telling you the options.
which is something you could think of if you are very good at data analysis and can do some programming
some cool shit with that, and if you know that stuff a wide # of industries are open to you, from finance to marketing to software dev etc
Which I didn't pursue because I don't enjoy computer programming; I think it takes a cetain kind of person to actually ENJOY programming >_<