So, as a junior in high school, I’m getting to the point where I should begin seriously thinking about what I want to major in college and what kind of career options I would have with the major I choose. The only problem is that I fall in love with the idea of being something every day.
Seriously speaking, I figure that I will have to go to medical school; I find this a good choice because although expensive, it has good and steady job stability in the future. I would personally consider becoming a dermatologist or ENT. My brain says to go through medical school and become a certified doctor but my heart wants something more sentimental, to become either a screenplay writer, linguist, or some sort of teacher. I know that realistically it wouldn’t be feasible for me to really be more than one of these options, but at the same time, I am appealed to the idea of any and all of them.
I’m really just stuck in a conflict with myself. Perhaps I am just doing too much worrying about the future too soon, but I don’t want this to go on to long to the point where I will be applying to colleges without having any idea what sort of classes I will need to be taking, and I would definitely like to avoid the stress of having to change my major halfway through college. Any sort of insight would be very helpful.
Consider the following:
Med schools do not care what your major in. Although med schools require completion of premed reqs, you can major in history, art, STEM, religion, etc Most premeds choose bio, maybe out of interest, and/or because of course overlap (ie can complete major and some premed reqs at same time). It’s a very good idea to major in something that you’re interested in, in case you change your mind about med school (aka Plan B).
time wise:
college: 4 years
med school 4 years
residency 4 years (Derm), 5 years (ENT)
be willing to say bye bye to your 20s, part of your 30s. Good luck.
I’m literally in the same boat. That’s why I’m looking into USC – they have a class or program that teaches you medical stuff to become a consultant to tv shows and films (filmmaking is my “sentimental” passion, but I really love biology and languages/travel). I didn’t really look that much into it, but I feel like it could be a possibility for the both of us let me know what you decide to do for a major, because I’m in a pickle, too haha.
Neither of you is really in the pickle yet. Gobs of students want to go to med school, but most of them don’t get in. “I will have to go to medical school” is pretty presumptuous given the admissions stats. Most of the med students I’ve known were VERY committed to the idea from the start, and sacrificed a lot in terms of their social life in college to get the grades they needed. The competition is fierce.
I wasn’t trying to be presumptuous, but moreso that as of right now I would rather be a derm or ENT over my sentimental choices. Of course, this is bound to change soon.
No, not really. As a junior in high school in August, given the school year just started, that means you have at least two years to decide what you want to major. And really, you don’t have to declare a major until your sophomore year of college, although practically speaking a lot of majors needs you to be reasonably sure in your freshman year if you want to graduate in four years.
That’s utterly normal.
There are lots of jobs that have good job stability besides being a doctor. Are there other reasons you want to be a doctor besides this? Because there’s so much more that goes into being a doctor than simply liking the stability of the job. (Also, it’s way too early for you to settle on specialties yet - many many many medical students change their mind about that.)
Well, actually, why not? Most linguists are teachers, in the sense that most people who study linguistics as a researcher are college/university professors who also teach classes in the area. That’s a challenging field to enter for a variety of reasons, but it’s true. There’s also things like teaching ESL classes, speech-language pathology (which is often done in schools with children) or audiology. And writers can often teach classes to make extra money.
Why? Like most students, you’ll probably start out by taking some general education classes to fulfill those requirements anyway.
It’s actually not that stressful on face to do this, although that depends a lot on the circumstances.
In my post I guess it sort of came off as my default career choice (being a doctor) but I genuinely find it interesting. It is figuring out what I want to do more than one or the other that is the tricky part haha. Medical school is obviously tough and competitive and there’s no way I would throw myself into that if I had second thoughts.
First, major in English or creative writing or non fiction writing. That DOES NOT prevent you from going to med school - in fact, English major’s do very well with med school admissions.
Second, being premed is an intention. It’s not a major, just a set of classes that aren’t medical. You take intro biology with future biology majors , intro Chem with future Chem majors… The difference is that you have to rank top 10-20% in each class. The premed core classes (as needed for MCAT and expected by med schools) include two semesters each of Biology, Chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, English (Composition/communication/speech/literature) plus one semester each of biochemistry, sociology, psychology, Calculus, Statistics or Biostatistics, a diversity-focused class, and recommended neuroscience or cognitive science, philosophy or ethics, a language spoken by an immigrant group (can be learned formally, in class, or through community education and clinics for less commonly taught yet widely used languages such as Hmong, Ukrainian, French Creole…)
What it means for high school, first is that you should have no weak area. You need to be strong at Math, English, Science, Social Science, even Foreign Language. It means that you should probably take AP Chem (because you will need 5 courses related to that), as well as AP English, Ap bio, and AP calculus, but that for those specific classes you will not ask for the credit once enrolled in college. Which means that, to have flexibility in scheduling, you’ll need more classes for which you’ll get AP credit to take, so, 2-3 other AP classes such as AP History, AP CS, AP foreign language, AP art history or AP Music. (That would make a total of 6-8 judiciously chosen AP courses).
I recommend you look at Denison college and its nonfiction writing major, which is often paired with a science major and sounds perfect for you.
let me know what you decide to do for a major, because I’m in a pickle, too haha.