- #1
CRichard
- 20
- 1
Hi everyone. Sorry in advance for the long post.As much as I regret it, I didn’t spend as much time as I should have thinking about what I wanted to do for a career when I was in college. I graduated with a biology degree in May 2013, and entered a physical therapy program (a decision I had made because I was passionate about physiology and exercise). Unfortunately, I had never worked as a PT aide and didn’t do enough research, and eventually found out that direct interaction with patients on a daily basis was not something that I preferred or was comfortable with. So, I withdrew from the program and am now in the middle of applying to a clinical lab science program. I’m trying to do better this time and make sure I choose a career that’s a good fit for me. I’m more confident that clinical lab science would be better for me than PT, but I still want to research other careers in this time I’m not enrolled in a program just to make sure I’m doing the right thing. I realized late in undergrad that I’m passionate about math and physics. Even if I don’t need them for work, I still want to spend some of my time studying those things, like calculus and linear algebra, and working my way up from general physics to quantum mechanics (very gradually lol). Because of this, I’ve been trying to research careers that use some of those skills. I’ve considered (or plan to consider) engineering (mechanical, electrical, or biomedical), computer science, actuary, physicist, and statistician. All of these paths would require more education (at least another whole bachelor’s degree) whereas a clinical lab scientist would only require 2 more years since I’ve completed all of the prerequisite courses as part of my biology degree. The youtube videos I’ve been watching or websites (like BLS) I’ve been looking at give somewhat of a picture, but I feel like they don’t give an accurate feel of what it’s like to be in a certain field, and if I would enjoy it. It’s frustrating because I feel like all the careers I’ve listed (including clinical lab scientist) are ones that I could enjoy and potentially be competent at, but that anyone of those could be one that I potentially don’t like and am terrible at. I realize that at some point I just have to go for something and take it on faith, but I guess my question is if there are any careers out of the ones I’ve listed that you’d recommend for someone who is interested in learning about physics/math for the enjoyment of understanding the theory. Or if anyone has been in a similar situation. Thanks.