I need help deciding between two options

College Majors
1

So along with thinking about college I’ve also been thinking of my major and what I want to do after college. I have a lot of paths to choose from but I don’t know what would be best for me. Here’s some of the options I’ve been thinking lately and why I would want to pursue them:

  1. Pre-med major: Become a general surgeon or nurse I want the opportunity to save lives everyday and I think I would be very happy to see someone recover from a tragic experience. However, I don't know how I would handle that someone's death could possibly be my fault. The pay is really good but I don't know if I would be ok with spending night and day at my job. I've heard if you go the pre-med route you don't have time for anything but pre-med.
  2. Psychology major: Eventually become an FBI agent I've watched crime shows since I was a little girl and, while I know the shows are glorified for Hollywood, it's what sparked my interest in crime. This past year I did a FBI internship with my local office and I loved every minute of it. As I said before, I want to save lives and protect people from the horrible things some people can do. However, I don't know how I feel about such high risks of dying and low pay.
  3. Criminology/forensic science major: This career would be a little bit more safe than the last one. I would still be making a difference but I wouldn't be participating as much as I would like in protecting people. My favorite subject is science and I think I would enjoy uncovering and analyzing evidence but I would definitely miss the action part of it. The pay is still pretty low.
  4. Forensic Pathology/Pre-med major: This career could be a good balance between crime and pre-med since I would be assisting in solving crime and preforming an autopsy. However, I still face the possibility of being unhappy because I wouldn't be directly participating in the saving of lives. The pay is actually not bad.

Those are pretty much the main careers I’m considering. If you can’t tell by my options I’m a big science person that’s looking for good pay and a high satisfaction. I love helping people and I want to make a difference in this world. If you have any advice as to what career would be best for me or how you figured out what you wanted to do I would greatly appreciate it!

2

Have you started college yet? Because if you have not, then it’s really difficult to make a decision without context. The things you need to do are take classes and do some poking around to find out about what these jobs entail. Thoughts:

  1. The vast majority of colleges do not have a pre-med major. There is a sequence of prerequisites you have to take to prepare for medical school, but you can major in whatever you want - and med students majored in all kinds of things in undergrad.

  2. Pre-med and nursing are two completely different things. Pre-med does not prepare you for nursing. You’d need to get a BSN, either by majoring in nursing in undergrad or by doing an accelerated second-degree program after you finish college.

Also, there are lots of different kinds of nurses. Most people think of med/surg floor nurses in a hospital, but nurses can do a lot of things - they can practice primary care (with a master’s degree as a nurse practitioner), teach, do hospital administration, infection control, telemetry, research, community education, anesthesia, midwifery, etc. Nursing is a big field.

Nurses and doctors also don’t always spend night and day at the job. My mom’s a nurse, and she works pretty regular shifts - 12-hour shifts 3 days a week = 36 hours, which is full-time for her. In some nursing fields you work a pretty standard 9-5 job (like research, administration, telemetry, etc.).

What you should do (not necessarily right now, or all at once)

  1. Find people who do what you want to do, like on LinkedIn, and do some informational interviews. Talk to a doctor about his or her work; talk to a nurse about her or his work; see if you can talk to some people who work in forensic pathology or criminal justice. Most people are willing to help out a HS or college student and like talking about themselves for 30 minutes. Get a feel for what they do every day and whether you’d be happy with the work.

  2. Take classes in college and see what you like. You may find that you hate biology and that pathology isn’t really for you, for example.

  3. Volunteer at a hospital and/or shadow a doctor. You need to do it anyway if you want to be competitive for med school, so you might as well start.

Figuring out what you want to do is a process - it doesn’t happen all at once. Also keep in mind that once you make a decision, you can also definitely change your mind and change careers. I did. Lots of people do.