<p>When I was five, I wanted to be a physicist because my mommy and daddy were physicists and they were the Bestest People In The World ™. Also, because I thought Albert Einstein’s hair in the Encyclopedia Britannica (my dad’s copy) was really cool.</p>
<p>In seventh grade, I had a fantastically inspiring environmental science teacher (crappy course, but she taught it magnificently) who opened my eyes to environmental and energy issues. As a result of her class, I wanted to be a plasma physicist like nothing else because it appealed to my scientific AND activist-y personalities.</p>
<p>I don’t know what I’m going to major in in college right now–physics or chemistry, with a possible double major/minor in political science/public policy/economics or music performance. </p>
<p>Bottom line: Don’t freak out too much. You obviously have things that you enjoy in school and other things that you don’t really so much. Start there, but you have oodles of time to work it out.</p>