Picking a Career

[Pfheonix]

I'm 18. With that out of the way, I'll just let the jaded patina that the internet has bestowed upon you, alongside any of the jade that just came naturally, just slide into place and get to the people that might empathize with me.

I'm 18. I have no idea what I want to do with my life, though I'm currently considering being a physician in Internal Medicine, possibly because of a Scrubs kick and possibly because it actually interests me. Unfortunately, unlike the previous generation or two, college is becoming more of the norm than non-collegiate career educations, with higher pressure to start right after high school rather than working for a few years, and so I'm enrolled in my sophomore year at a local 4 year college, soon to be university if we get our Master's program. I'm trying not to be wasteful with both time and loans, because I don't have the grades, as of the writing of this, to get any scholarships or HOPE, as I live in Georgia. I might want to go the Pre-Med route, which would mean that I would possibly need to take a fifth year or summer classes, through a B.S. in Physics, but honestly, I might just be clinging to that medical career idea because it's so glorified in Scrubs, despite the fact that the majority of days, which is covered here, are spent doing routine work and paperwork.

I'm just kind of lost. I don't have much of a passion for anything, and, if you can't tell, while my self-confidence isn't bad, my self-esteem is not the best, so I'm a bit of a whiner. For those of you who are in a stable career, how did you pick it? And for those of you in a similar situation to mine, what are you doing? Because I honestly have no damn clue what to do, aside from shadowing a physician to add medicine to my list of things I would be bad at, uncomfortable in, or just disinterested in.

All the best.

Captcha: Bath Towel... How helpful. And to think I thought you read minds...


EDIT: Okay, fuck medicine. Having read a book describing someone's experiences in Med-School. FUCK MEDICINE.

 

[SillyBear]

At eighteen most people don't actually know what they want to do with their life. Remember there is no rush.

My advice would be to follow the thing you are most interested in at the time. Medicine is a hugely rewarding and respectable career but it is incredibly demanding, so it isn't something to just wander into.

I'm about half way done with my medical studies and I can tell you that it is nothing like Scrubs. Scrubs is a sitcom with plots specifically designed to entice audiences. Real life isn't like that - ever.

The other issue with medicine is the work load. You'll get hammered by work and lots of it is fairly difficult. It is a gradual build up though - and if you take a pre-med course then you will have a good idea on what to do and whether or not you like it.

Taking the pre-med route doesn't sound like a bad idea. If you're interested in health there are multiple careers to chose from and many of them divert smoothly off from the pre-med stuff. So even if, like a lot of people, you don't quite get the grades to do medicine you can still find a great career in the field.

I think the real motivation behind choosing medicine as a career should be to help others. Do you have that motivation? Because if you don't have it, it is going to be difficult to get out of bed in the morning and work long shifts back to back. You really, really need to have a passion for helping others and a passion for science.

 

[Burig]

At eighteen most people don't actually know what they want to do with their life. Remember there is no rush.

Yup. I'm 22 and up until very recently I had no clue what I wanted to do, still not sure if it will work out, but thankfully I had really supportive parents (well, I think they were starting to get annoyed).
One thing I'd suggest you do; try things out. Email places, email people, ask if you can spend a week there - it will certainly help your CV, as well as applications to universities, and give you an idea of what the job's like.

I'd also suggest qualifications will help, especially if you've got time on your hands (before doing any school or whatever) I'm going to become a radiographer, however needed to get some qualifications up that are only really taken by 12-16 year olds, thankfully found a school that took external candidates, bought some books myself and taught myself (no idea how it's gone, get the results sometime this month).

But as to how you pick what you want to do, that's the real kicker. I had taken so many personality career tests, and all seemed to point down the creative route (artist, writer, graphic designer - etc), however had always been somewhat interested in science,a nd liked helping people as much as I can. Looking down a random list of jobs, I saw a few that I liked the sound of and contacted people. So that's really the only way you will ever know - try things out.

 

[Pfheonix]

At eighteen most people don't actually know what they want to do with their life. Remember there is no rush.

My advice would be to follow the thing you are most interested in at the time. Medicine is a hugely rewarding and respectable career but it is incredibly demanding, so it isn't something to just wander into.

I'm about half way done with my medical studies and I can tell you that it is nothing like Scrubs. Scrubs is a sitcom with plots specifically designed to entice audiences. Real life isn't like that - ever.

The other issue with medicine is the work load. You'll get hammered by work and lots of it is fairly difficult. It is a gradual build up though - and if you take a pre-med course then you will have a good idea on what to do and whether or not you like it.

Taking the pre-med route doesn't sound like a bad idea. If you're interested in health there are multiple careers to chose from and many of them divert smoothly off from the pre-med stuff. So even if, like a lot of people, you don't quite get the grades to do medicine you can still find a great career in the field.

I think the real motivation behind choosing medicine as a career should be to help others. Do you have that motivation? Because if you don't have it, it is going to be difficult to get out of bed in the morning and work long shifts back to back. You really, really need to have a passion for helping others and a passion for science.

I didn't say that I thought Scrubs was accurate. I just said that it made me look into it as a career. It might be the most accurate show to what medicine is, but that doesn't mean it's a legitimate interpretation. Should I actually make a decision to move toward medicine, I'm going to try to shadow a physician at one of the two nearby hospitals, and failing that, a private practice physician.

 

[Noetherian]

Don't worry so much about finding something to do for the rest of your life. Most adults change careers at least once in their lives, so what's important now is to make friends and develop your skillset. It sounds to me like you've got an interest in medicine-- a growing and very wide field, whether you end up a doctor, a statistician, a scientist, a medical malpractice lawyer, a child psychologist, or just a well-informed patient who works in a completely unrelated field. So pursue that interest! See where it takes you. The worst thing you can do is talk yourself out of something you're actually interested in because you're not sure. Go for it. Worst case you'll end up doing something else.

(And yes, career tracks like medicine or anything with lengthy graduate school time attached do demand a certain amount of determination and commitment if for no other reason than the bill attached. But 1) you're going to have to commit to something eventually, and 2) that's still not a death sentence, if you really hate it... plus 3) odds are good you'll find something to like if you were headed in that direction anyway.)

 

[hotdogoctopus]

You are too young to concern yourself with a career for the rest of your life. But, it would be a waste to go to college using it as the socially acceptable norm. I'm currently in college (and have been for 5 years) working on 4 degrees that I could never use for work outside of the field of teaching. Yet since I graduated high-school the better part of a decade ago I concerned myself with amassing other skills and knowledge that simply interest me or would behoove me should college be a waste. As such I have become proficient in ASL, Cello, small electronics, fabrication, and a little bit in mechanical engineering. I feel fairly fulfilled in my late 20s as an unemployed yet knowledgeable, collegiate adult people approach with more than their social problems. For general info...

http://www.mikeroweworks.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Usaao1NU_Y

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

I wouldn't suggest running off to college with a vague idea of what you want to be. I didn't know I wanted to study astronomy until I was 22 and well over half way done with a degree in chemistry working towards medicine myself. It's also not advisable to run straight off to a four year college if you don't know what you want to be. Try a local college to get your cores out of the way while picking a few classes which interest you here and there. That way, you can ease yourself into the way a college works instead of jumping into the deep end of some highly prestigious private university charging you a man's salary for tuition alone. This is not a good economy to risk that kind of money. If you hate what you're doing and leave, you might be left thousands of dollars in debt at 20. No kid needs that at that age.

 

[Pfheonix]

I wouldn't suggest running off to college with a vague idea of what you want to be. I didn't know I wanted to study astronomy until I was 22 and well over half way done with a degree in chemistry working towards medicine myself. It's also not advisable to run straight off to a four year college if you don't know what you want to be. Try a local college to get your cores out of the way while picking a few classes which interest you here and there. That way, you can ease yourself into the way a college works instead of jumping into the deep end of some highly prestigious private university charging you a man's salary for tuition alone. This is not a good economy to risk that kind of money. If you hate what you're doing and leave, you might be left thousands of dollars in debt at 20. No kid needs that at that age.

I'm 18 and I have about 8000 dollars in student loans. Yeah, unless I get scholarships, debt is going to be the only constant in my life until my career or job matures, from training to a median salary or wage. Unfortunately, I have the pressure of college because my parents both went and expect me to. So, for this semester, I plan to do some shadowing of people in the health industry, get a feel for it, and if it's not for me, keep looking.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

Scrubs is, for the most part, accurate in it's portrayal as a hospital. They feature real diseases, a realistic amount of grunt work, real doctor-patient relationships; aside from the comedy and romance elements the hospital is pretty real. Hell the set is an actual hospital.

I'm going to uni to study animation and special effects. I'm only an art person in interest and not so much in ability and I'm pretty stoked. You have the misfortune of being born in America where you get almost no help for money so you're in a worse situation than me but my advice is to pick something you enjoy that has options leading from it. You don't need to pick a job, just the road you're going to start on; make sure it's something you're going to enjoy.

 

[TotalerKrieger]

If you are interested in medicine, you should consider doing some sort of medical training which only takes a short time to complete (eg. Emergency Medical Technician, Medical Assistant, Nursing Assistant, etc). Interacting with patients who may be sick, injured, hysterical or dying, preforming medical procedures on said patients, working in the hospital environment and working while sleep deprived will give you invaluable insight as to whether the medical profession is right for you. IMO, you can't really acquire proper experience through volunteer work as you are not legally permitted to do (or even observe in many cases) anything related to actual medical practice.