So many people say that I should just start something, and if I don't like it then I can switch - but that is easier said that done. You see, we will be paying for school (hopefully with the help of grants and/or scholarship) on our very own - as most of you can relate to - and I would like to get in and get it done so that I can focus on things like a family too...so I don't really want to start something that I am not sure about, and then switch to something completely different and have to start over with different, expensive classes that will take even longer. I want to start out with a somewhat sure idea of what I want to be when I grow up.
Now, I have a few different things that I am interested in - and when I say different, I mean different. None of them are even close to each other!!! And there are a lot of reasons why I would love to do them, and a lot of reasons why I am not so sure.
So this is where you come in - I am going to tell you what they are and the pros and cons for each - and hopefully you will post with some advice. Everyone who reads my blog is so smart and knows me and so I know that you will be able to give me some really great advice full of wisdom and love.
Here goes (in no particular order):
Law
Pros: I really like the drama of law. I love the idea of being in a courtroom, questioning witnesses and yelling, "I object" and giving very convincing and heartfelt closing arguments to a jury who will eventually find my side victorious.
I also like the idea of being able to give advice to people and help them when they are dealing with the unjust things in the world. And....Jon is almost a lawyer and that means an in-home tutor!
Cons: After witnessing Jon go through law school, and reading some of his books with him and going over some of his papers, it is very apparent to me that studying law is very boring. Jon says it gets better when you can understand the books and the language of law, but I am not sure that stick with it long enough to find out. Also, I don't know that I would be very good at figuring out the puzzles, like finding that one piece of evidence that will prove your case, or asking that right question. And, there are so many policies and procedures to practicing law - I wonder if I am too creative to be stuck in so many boundaries.
Theater/Musical Theater
Pros: I love, love, love to act and be on stage! I also love writing plays and watching plays. I just love being in an auditorium. I grew up doing it since I was little - my mom was a theater major and she let me be in the plays she directed, or audition and be in the plays she was in. It was so fun and it makes up a huge part of my growing up years. It is so fun!
Cons: What do you do with a theater degree? Teach theater in high school? I don't think so! It seems like if you aren't going to make it big-time (which I don't really want to do, since I want to focus more on family) all you have left is teaching. Also, I would be required to do plays - and if I were going to do plays, I would naturally want leading roles and I would work really hard to get them - but how am I supposed to get leading roles when I refuse to kiss anyone but my husband? It just seems like choosing theater would be fun for now, but would lead to a very uncertain future................
Medicine
Pros: Being a doctor has always been something I have thought about doing since I was very little. Now, I will admit that that dream has evolved from being a doctor to being a Physician's Assistant, but it is still the same idea. It has always been so interesting to me to learn how the body works, and to understand why it doesn't work. I love the idea of working in a hospital and saving lives and uncovering mysteries and seeing every day just how amazing the human body actually is! Besides, it would be really cool to have that knowledge when I have kids.
Cons: First and foremost, I am not very good at chemistry and math - 2 very important classes in medicine. I am also not sure that I would be confident enough to make decisions that could cost someone their life. That is a very big responsibility.
Political Science
Pros: Anyone who knows me knows that I am a self-proclaimed "Fox News Junkie". Ever since my dad started listening to NPR (the only talk radio available on the mountain), I have been hooked, and being married to a Political Science major who did an internship for the RNC and is very interested in politics, I have been hooked!! I listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity...all of them like a crazy person!! The station in the car never changes from KFYI and if I can sneak it at work, you can bet I will. I was excited to get cable in the house so I could watch Fox News and give Jon the report of what is going on in the world every day (he is in class so he can't hear it as much as I do). I have to ask Jon questions about how things work a lot of the time and I get so irritated with some of the things going on in the world, and I wonder if I could do something to change it.
Cons: Even Jon will tell you that there isn't much to do with a degree in Political Science besides go to law school, teach Political Science, or go into politics. We already talked about law school, I am sure I don't want to teach anything, and I am not so sure I am brave enough to go into politics. It takes up a lot of time and again, I really want to focus on family too.
So anyways, those are my top 4 choices and I am torn between them all! They all have so many good things and so many bad things. One of the main things I am scared of is that I will do one and wish that I had done the others - I want to do them all!!!!
I need your advice - what do you think I should do?
10 comments:
Wow Mal! David and I are doing it too, education 1 at a time. But i'm already freaking out about this same thing! So rest assured that your not the only unsure grown-up out there.
You are so terribly talented that this is a tough decision. My core feeling is that going the physicians assistant route may be best for you. You already have a medical background and that's a super great start. You definitely don't give yourself enough credit! Have confidence in yourself, when it comes to important decisions i know you'll be a success. Worries about Math and Chem? Get mad and conquer them, how dare they try to stand in your very important way of a great career! You can do it! you really can! We all believe in you and are here to back you up. Not to mention that wonderful super star of a husband you have. Plus it will be great to have all that knowledge for when the kids come along, you'll have the advantage of not being as flustery (real word?) as the rest of us (we'll prolly call you for advice, "listen to him cough does it sound bad enough to visit the ER?" Silly stuff like that)So go and get 'em Sista! Love You!
P.S. Ashley is going into that same field and may be able to offer a helping hand in the required classes, plus i bet she'd lend you her books if she still has them all. LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANYTHING!
Thank you for the advice and for saying such sweet things!!! We miss you guys!!
DODO, I am doing the same freakin thing!! Shoot!! I think I am just going to become a lost boy and never grow up...always Disney with me right! haha! Here is what I think, I am leaning for Medicine or theatre for you. You have always loved the stage, and it would be great for you. It would be like Mom, and she has done so much with hers!! So amazing!! I also think that you would be good in medicine cause you are so brilliant and kind hearted, I could see you going into childrens medicine!! That is my advice!!
k, my turn!! So, I want to work here still, so seasonal it is! K, so school....here are my thoughts. Art, cause I love it, but what do you do with the degree......theater, but again, what do you do, clothing design, and cooking.....I just don't know Mal!... What to do, What to do???
Yay for Jon almost being done..so exciting congrats to you guys. I am going through the same thing..it's not quite time for me to go back to school but things that I want to do are so so so different from each other that I can't even make up my mine..but anyways.
So I don't really know you well enough to tell you what I think you should do necessarily but....just going off what your wrote they all should like really good ideas. With the Law degree if you don't know that you would ever really stick with it long enough than I wouldn't do that. However with the theater/musical theater it should like so much fun and it seems to me that you would be so good at that. You seem so creative and full of life. It could be fun...but again there are not many options with that degree if your main focus wanting to be family, which i think is great. And the same with political science degree..if teaching isn't something your interested in and you don't think law school sounds fun..than it doesn't sound all that right either. Now the medical one. That one has a lot of options...even if you don't think your that good at chemistry and math. There are always tutors and In my experience I was HORRIBLE..than one day it just kinda clicked:) I don't know that it would work that way for you. But personally it sounds like such a good idea, you would always have that knowledge for when you have children. Your first instinct wouldn't be to rush to the hospital completely freaked unless it was actually necessarily. About the making necessary decisions I think it just comes along with the knowledge and just practice, again not that I would know..I'm terrified to try a medical career even though it's something I have always wanted. But anyways..now that I rambled forever..I hope you can make the right decision, and don't doubt that you will be able too.
I love all of the advice!! Thank you so much!!!! Keep it coming it is truly helping me so much!!!
I'm leaning toward Political Science and P.A.for you. Here's why:
So with at least with law school you're going to have to get an undergrad degree no matter what. I know most of the time for P.A. stuff it's best to get an undergrad degree that is science oriented (biology for instance since that gives you a good foundation for what follows), HOWEVER, there is no rule to that. My dad got a degree in Business Administration and is a pilot for crying out loud! :). Brenden also worked with people at the Triple Helix who were looking forward to medical school but who got their undergrad degrees in an engineering field (last I checked, knowledge of concrete structures were irrelevant in the emergency room). But I do know that you can go to P.A. school without an undergrad degree (depending on admission requirements for certain P.A. schools), so you may be preparing to start right into that. I think you would do a great job at that because you're so friendly with people and would make them feel at ease. Plus like everyone else said, it is a great thing to have when you have kids!
So that leaves Political Science and Theater. Here's my thing with theater. You're great at it, you have the voice for it, and so I don't think you should eliminate it from your life. But I do think it would be difficult to branch off with an undergrad degree in theater if you wanted to do something else in the future (although I think it would be valuable in a court room...I think there may be a time where you have to be able to act...like for a closing argument when you need a good understanding of voice inflections for a good build and finish, but I don't think you need a degree in theater to get a good understanding of that). BUT you can still do theater! You don't need a degree in it. Join a community theater (don't let that Belle experience deter you from that!!), and that will help you get your theater fix while you save school for a subject where you would like to be formally taught (I only say that because I really think that you're so good at theater stuff that I don't think you need to dedicate 4 years to learning it in depth...but that's just my opinion.). Ok so political science: It's a great way to start off before Law School if you still want to go that route (as Jon has proven), it can also be an undergrad degree in preparation for P.A. school, and most importantly it's something you LOVE. That is so important.
(see my next post....blogger apparently thought I had too much to say in one post (what? I have too much to say? Impossible!) and is making me do it in two posts).
Ok...here's the rest....
And I do want to say....don't be afraid to change your mind. I know you said you don't want to, but don't eliminate the possibility. So many times I think you can go into college studying one thing and then once you get into depth you figure out it's not what you thought. It happens all the time (I always thought it would be neat to be a criminal psychologist or marine biologist and then I realized that I REALLY just liked watching stuff like that on T.V., but when it came down to actually studying it, I hated it). I went into college wanting to be a journalist. I made it all the way to my junior year, including applying and being accepted into the professional program when I realized I couldn't do that style of writing for the rest of my life. So I switched. And honestly, it only cost me an extra semester. (believe me I too was scared of wasted time and money, but it was worth it, and it really didn't cost me anything in time or money).
And finally, you will ALWAYS wish you had studied something else because you like learning about everything. When all the kids are out of the house I want to go back to school to get a degree in Interior Design and Photography (both a far cry from English). And that's ok! You don't have to do everything before the kids come. It will still be important to study more things, even while you have children. It will teach them how important it is to constantly be learning (because Mommy is doing it too!). So if you graduate with a degree in Poli Sci and then later want to be a P.A., DO IT!
No matter what you choose, we will be cheering you on.
And that's all I have to say about that :).
Love ya.
Hey Sis,
So, I am pretty sure you already know what my advice would be as far as your degree choice since we have had many years worth of "discussions" on the subject. ha ha... The fact that you are so smart and talented in so many areas does not always help in the decision making process. But your priorities have changed, from what does Mal want, to what would be best for my family and that Sis...is grown-up! I would say follow your heart. Make the best decision for your family AND for you! Any career you choose will have goods and bads, I guess the trick is to find the one with the least amount of bads. You have always been able to do anything you wanted once you got it in your mind to accomplish it! This will be no different! Good Luck! I Love you and as always, will be cheering you on!
I am so excited for you that you get to go back to school! It is sooooo fun! I think my life's only regret (not a huge one though) is not choosing a different major. I graduated from ASU in Family and human Development, and I felt likeit was sort of a waste of time cause most of my classes were based on A LOT of opinions and crummy skewed research! If I had to go back, I think I would've chosen history or speech and hearing or who knows? Anyhow, you have a big decision ahead of you! For the record, I think you would do great in the medical field cause you are so caring and comapassionate! You could brighten a sick persons day instantly! decision ahead of you!
I think you should go into international relations, because it uses law and political science. Then you can work for a non-profit (like doctors without borders - ie medical) when you graduate.
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