I’m struggling in choosing between 3 career options: music, business, and medicine. Here’s why I’m struggling:
Music- music is like second nature to me. I’m really good at it and all my teachers have told me I’m very gifted in music. However, the (classical) music industry doesn’t have a lot of career options and the general pay is pretty low.
Business- I have an interest in business, in terms of starting my own business to be exact. My mother works in business and she says I have the mentality of a great business leader. Getting a business degree would be great because there’s plenty career opportunities and the salary is unlimited and seems to pay well. However, there’s no guarantee that my business will succeed. The business world is a little bit of a gray area for me. People that have started their own businesses tell me they used practically nothing from business school to start their business which is another reason I’m hesitant.
Medical- I’m interested in medical for many reasons. I’m very good at science and math, which seems to be important in the medical world. Another reason being, can you imagine someone coming in and leaving cured and heathy because of you? It sounds amazing. However, if I go to pre-med school but don’t make it to medical school, there’s practically nothing I can do except for going to nursing school, which I’m not interested in.
Thoughts?
How would other people be able to decide for you. You can be a business major in college while taking “premed” classes and audition for your schools various bands.
Healthcare management combines business and health and is a growing field. Don’t expect money from music (just friends and non-money based happiness) or self-employment.
The way to go about a personal business that has the best odds of success, from what I have seen, is working for someone in a small business over at least several years, establishing your competence and trustworthiness in it, and letting the owners hand it over to you (purchase money is apt to become a secondary matter) when they retire. Obviously, it’s key that you are committed to the kind of business/industry involved, that it is not in decline, and that the owners don’t have children set to take over the business.
Note that if someone hasn’t started a business or researched what has actually happened to people starting a business, his/her opinions about it are unlikely to have value. Look for honest advice from people who HAVE tried to start a business (both successful and unsuccessful) and examine objective studies.
It is quite possible to make a career - a paying one - in music. Not every musician is a famous pop star or symphony member; musicians also write songs, play as session musicians for studios, write jingles for commercials, do freelance work for corporations filming random things, etc. It is, of course, very difficult to break into - because the competition is so fierce (far more people want to do it than there are positions open for them). This is especially true if your specific aspiration is playing classical music in an orchestra or ensemble or something. I won’t say don’t pursue it, but keep your eyes open and know that it’s very unlikely you’ll get a job that will allow you to support yourself.
“Business” is a very general term. It doesn’t have to mean starting your business: it can mean working for a business, which is basically any enterprise that makes money (and honestly, even some who don’t). You can be an accountant or financial analyst for a nonprofit or NGO; you can work in management at a health clinic, insurance company, tech firm or law firm; you can go into marketing at a retail company, restaurant, food service conglomerate, telecom…you get the picture. Everything is business.
It takes a very particular kind of person to be a good entrepreneur. Also, in order to be a successful entrepreneur, you usually should have some business experience first, maybe working for someone else. So perhaps you should think about getting some experience in the work world and then transitioning that later. Working will also give you a better idea of whether you are cut out to run your own business.
It’s not true that if you go pre-med and then don’t go to med school there’s nothing you can do. Pre-med students can major in anything and often go on to do all kinds of other things. You could be music pre-med or business pre-med or economics pre-med.
(I also have to say that I don’t fully understand a person who is effusively interested in the idea of healing/helping people as a career, broadly interested in the medical field, but completely dismissive of nursing. Nursing is a big field and directly helping people is the biggest part of most of it.)