<p>I thought parents who have personally experienced college, grad school, and a career would be more helpful, so I am posting in this forum. So basically, I am currently a college student at at Stanford. My strengths are in math and science, and I plan to major in Chemical Engineering. Thing is, I have no idea what I want to do beyond that. I would say the two main factors I am looking at in a career would be income and happiness. I'd like a job that pays well and is also very interesting to me. </p>
<p>I've come to the conclusion that I could either 1) Co-term and get my Masters in 5 years at Stanford, then go get a job as some type of chemical engineer
2) work for a couple years then try to get an MBA at a top school (since I don't really want to be a typical engineer, I want to work for some type of company that is business-related)
3) fulfill premed requirements and apply to medical school</p>
<p>All these seem plausible at the moment, yet I have no idea which road to take. I guess the question would be: Which road would result in the highest income, in the long run? Which road is least stressful/difficult and easiest to achieve? How should I go about deciding what to do? (I'm a freshman, but I feel like I have no time to choose, since there are so many required classes for the chemical engineering major and not enough room for exploration) Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Is it just me or do an inordinate amount of students asking for advice here start their posts with the words ‘high income’ and ‘easiest route’…? :)</p>
<p>You want the easiest route to high income?..
Start buying a lottery tickets.</p>
<p>I started by writing a long post about myself, after reading it over my message is - you will do well if you know who you are, what you are good at, and what much you would be willing to give up for high income. There is no easy way of earning a good income, it’s usually with sweat and blood. When I was much younger, I gave up a lot of my personal time, once I had kids I wasn’t as welling to do it, now my kids are grown I am “back in the game” again. I do it now because I want to save more for retirement and large part of it is because I enjoy it. </p>
<p>I was a liberal arts major without any advance degree. What I am doing now is not related to anything I’ve learned in school. The only thing I’ve learned is to be a good problem solver, but I have a natural ability to multi-task and also be very focused. I do not shy away from challenges, so I never expect easiest way to have high income, and I tell my kids that. If it’s easy then everyone would be doing it. When I hire, I would keep on raising the salary until I could get a competent candidate, or if I see my staff going to competitors for higher salaries then I would raise their pays too. </p>
<p>Try to keep your options open, work hard in school, and don’t do anything just for money, you should find a career (not just a job) that you wouldn’t mind getting up for everyday.</p>
<p>I actually think that might be the hardest way possible, especially for someone whose strengths are in “math”. Can you imagine, someone playing the lottery and actually understanding on a statistical level what they’re really doing? No one would ever touch one!</p>
<p>Not to split hairs here, but technically the OP didn’t say he was looking for the easiest path to the most money, although that’s a possible inference. He pretty clearly didn’t link those two qualifications together, since he asked them in separate questions. He just asked which path pays the most and which path is the least difficult, which are maybe things he wants to consider but not necessarily the major selling points. He did ask an open ended question about what he should do. I know there may be exceptions, but I don’t think most Stanford students are known for being slackers.</p>
<p>I think my answer would be to worry now about whether he actually likes his major or not. Don’t put the cart before the horse. As a freshman, he probably hasn’t really even scratched the surface of it yet. AS he goes along he is bound to encouter situations and people that will open new ideas about what he wants to do in his life, or crystallize current vague notions. Worrying specifically about a career vs. grad school can wait a year or two. Especially since any of the option listed can be done with the major listed (plus maybe a few extra courses).</p>
<p>I’ve never been to med school or a top business school but I’ve heard both can be stressful , particularly the long hours in med school and the internships and residency that follow. You really lock yourself in with that path, so I don’t thinhk that’s likely something you do if you don’t have a real desire to do it.</p>
<p>Just keep the grades up and take the required coursework if you want to keep med school on the table. I’ve heard ChE is pretty tough.</p>
<p>Well…I would say it used to be medicine but with health care reform and other health cost issues, I wouldn’t wager my bets here. PLUS you also have to factor in the COST of going to medical school…t’ain’t cheap. Those loans will have to be paid back.</p>
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<p>You are joking? Engineering is a very rigorous course of study. Unless it comes to you “naturally” it’s going to have periods of stress…and be difficult. NONE of the options you posted are “easy”.</p>
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<p>Only YOU can answer that question. Personally I believe students should study in their fields of INTEREST…not focus on future income. The bottom line is that if you are not interested in your field, no amount of money can compensate for that, in my opinion.</p>
<p>What do YOU like to do? If it’s math/science and you like the engineering course of study, do that. I know folks with undergrad degrees in engineering who found jobs. Are you sure you need a masters to get an engineering job? </p>
<p>Make sure you really understand the different career options you are considering. Shadow personnel in all of these fields…find out about what it took to get them where they are. REALLY understand the types of work they do…and try to figure out if you can picture yourself doing that work.</p>