I realise most of the active users here are in high school, so what are your plans after that? How many options do you have? How are you going to decide what to do with yourself? For the few older users here: How did you decide what to do with yourself? What I mean by this is your career path and the things you had to do to get there. Did you plan years before or did you throw a few options around late?
I'm going to be entering my senior year of highschool in a few months, and I don't exactly know what I'm going to do after that. I have a few options: Military academy, military, or college.
I don't want to do college straight out of highschool because I've been in school all my life and I don't think I'd enjoy it. I'd like to do more exciting things, but I'm nervous.
For the military academy I'm considering West Point. That'll take four years of my life and I read when you're finished it's mandatory to serve two-five years in the military; they are paying for you to be there which is about $300k for all four years and you also receive a stipend of $900 a month. When you graduate you'll be commissioned as a second lieutenant. That'll be at least six years of my life away from my home and I'm nervous about that because I have some family problems and I won't be able to see some of my young family members grow up. I'll only be able to visit them a few times a year.
I don't know which branch of the military I want to join yet though. Suggestions would be apprecaited.
After that I'm considering something in law enforcement.
For the few older users here: How did you decide what to do with yourself?
Well, I've always enjoyed physical activity of all kinds, and when I was in high school I realized I wanted others to enjoy it as much as I did, so I decided I'd become a P.E. teacher and it was perhaps the greatest decision of my life! All I had to do was get a degree in health and physical education.
I wish I knew what I want to do in life. I see those people who have their lives mapped out in their heads - their determination and certainty make me envious.
I really don't want to waste money in university pursuing degrees which I find I dislike or are useless in the future - so I'm going to have to start making a choice soon.
I think I'm either going to pursue optometry or accounting. If I can't get one of those, then I might just settle for a computer or electrical engineer.
Well, for West Point you do need good SATs and GPAs, not to forget, tip top medical statuses.
For me, finals are this year, and I'll then have mandatory national service for the next two years, and when I'm on leave from the army, I would get part time jobs, maybe as a teacher.
Then a degree in law, before deciding which aspect of law, financial, criminal, corporate, etc to go into for life.
Well, since I took a years' break from college, I was no longer being funded, so I can't afford educating myself for anything more than the diploma I have. Not that I'm complaining, I did wonderfully these 4 years in college. So, my next life-goal is- becoming a pilot!
Now I work some errands for my dad, he's a major in the Serbian military, and I do some research for him, and he pays me pretty well. This is how I can afford to live abroad. How I got there? It took me 3 years of high school, since I've skipped 1st year due to education in another part of the world. A lot of hard work, in short. And it's not even an advantage that my dad is at such a high position, it actually makes things harder for me. There's extra check-ups to see whether I know what I'm doing, and also there's these kind of truth-tests, whether my father gave me the job because I'm his kid or because I'm good at the stuff I do.
My future, as I said is becoming a pilot. This is where my dad comes in handy, because he can recommend me to his superiors, and they can pull some strings to get me into military flights at first, then I'd be transferred to civil flights.
I don't know which branch of the military I want to join yet though.
Well, it depends whether you want naval, aero or terrestrial branches (sorry if these terms don't make sense in English, that's the best translation I can come up with)
Well... I think that as a high schooler searching for his way in life you should take the time to interview and/or shadow people of different professions. You should observe these people and then think to yourself, "can I realistically see myself doing this for at least a large chunk of my future lifetime?" After you've done that you should research your options regarding your interests.
Shadowing will help you to realize whether or not you would be qualified to do something. A friend of mine was dead set on becoming a doctor, but she found out that she passes out at the sight of blood. (why she waited till her senior year to shadow when I've told her since freshman year that she needed to go ahead and find these things out, I'll never know)... Now she's trying to figure out whether or not she can do anything with her biology degree or if she needs to go back and take classes in something else.
As for me, I've decided to work towards becoming a physician. I've shadowed at my local surgery center and have found out that none of it bothers me. I'm starting a masters degree program in August that will have me taking gross anatomy... which means I'll be dissecting my own cadaver. I guess I'll find out real quick as to whether or not I can actually do the cutting.
I've worked in one of my professor's labs doing novel research on a mouse strain of melanoma cells, and that has shown me just how much I don't want to work in a lab for the rest of my life. I find the prospect of seeking new information for the healthcare field highly interesting... but the actual work is mind numbingly tedious, boring, and repetitive. It's not nearly as fulfilling to me as the physician-patient interaction.
My parents are chiropractors and I've had my share of medical issues growing up, so my history may have also played a role in my leaning towards the medical field.
I've known people to start the pre-med track and then drop out of it later on because they didn't think it was going to be difficult... or as difficult as it is. What they don't realize until it is too late is that it takes an obscene amount of dedication and hard work to make it. (It's the same with many other career tracks and life choices) What a lot of people don't realize is that it isn't that it is sooo much easier for some people to stay the course, it's just that whoever can endure the nightmare all the way to the end are the ones that get MD, DO, DC, etc at the end of their names. That being said, you need to think about that before you switch majors/careers/ life paths on the basis of it being difficult. If you're intelligent and dedicated, then you will make it through. You might not have the best gpa or be the best of the best, but you making it isn't as much of an impossibility as you might think.
Going with that last part... you need to weigh the benefits of enduring it with the cost of enduring it. If you don't think making the money of a physician or the patient interaction is worth it 10 years from now, then you might want to find something else to do that is more worth your time.
I know I've rambled, but just remember... that it is the people who are willing to be drug face first back and forth through hell's half acre for years on end that end up making it out the other side. They don't all go into the process as geniuses... diamonds are just formed from all the pressure they have to go through (<---symbolism)
I'm not particularly fond of the idea of going into the military as anything other than a military doctor. Sure, it CAN hypothetically help you out with your life... but most of the people I've known who have gone into it that didn't come back in caskets came back worse for wear... ptsd, drug addiction, depression, service wounds. If you're going to go in and you want to come back out ok, at least my interpretation of ok, then try and do something that keeps you out of harms way. If you think you can handle it... then I hope for your sake that you can.
Well, right now I'm going into grade ten so I have time to decide what I wan't to do with my life. At this point I'm somewhere in between Computer Programming/Engineering or Military. I also have some interests in History and Science, but not as much as the first two.
At the current plan that I have set up, I finish high school to start. Then most likely I will take a year off from schooling and enjoy myself. The I will most likely go to the RMC, military college in Kingston. This is accompanied by somewhere around three years of military service. I am going into plane engineering if I do pursue the military path. After military service I will probably go into a computer-related subject.
I wish I knew what I want to do in life. I see those people who have their lives mapped out in their heads - their determination and certainty make me envious.
It scares me to think about it. We live a life dependent on our guardians and then we're thrown out into the world. It makes me want to be a kid again.
Well, for West Point you do need good SATs and GPAs, not to forget, tip top medical statuses.
I've never taken the SAT, but the others aren't issues. West Point was recommended to me by someone, but I may consider a military academy closer to home.
then try and do something that keeps you out of harms way
About 13 was perfect for me. Independent enough to do some times but not enough to do others. That was the life.
I've never taken the SAT, but the others aren't issues.
Are you planning to take it? I think you have too, or at least it will get you a better shot.
Anyway, colleges. Yes I plan to go to college. Got a 1880 on my SAT, not happy at all. Going to take that again. Luckily the colleges I am looking at super score which is nice.
So I am thinking about IU and Purdue. IU has a good college on informatics which I might want to do. Purdue is just a good engineering school so I if I went there I would probably go into computer science. Both options have programming, it more or less depends what type of programming I want to do.
I want to go into the Air Force to fly some sort of aircraft. I would join any other branch of the military, but I'm not keen on the higher chances of dying in the other branches. And plus I like flying.
After that... I don't know.. making video games? Or acting? To say the least I haven't planned much. Good thing I'm only a sophomore.
I am considering possibly going to college, maybe get a degree in criminology or police science (or maybe even forensics) and possibly getting a job as a Police Officer. I am also heavily considering becoming an EMT or a Firefighter (I am kind of into Public Safety in case you didn't notice.)
It's a big decision. Not one to be made lightly or without consideration.
I know for sure that I want to go to a college with the best options for me, with a good science and art program, a lot of research opportunities, and preferably a city nearby where I could soak in culture. A fancy prestigious school would be all right, and the University of Rochester is looking especially good.
After that it's a bit iffy. I'm about 60% sure I want to become a doctor of some sort, and for that I'd have to go through the whole mess of tests and Medical School, but if I make it through, it should be worth it. However, I also wish I could become a writer, or an artist, or a cinematographer, or a musician, or an inventor, or some sort of nomad that could travel around the world, expectations be ****ed, writing and sketching along the way.
I admire people that have a more clear cut idea of what they want to be and how they will get there. If there's a path to follow, it's easier to get from point A to point B.
I'm actually really surprised so many of you guys are thinking of a military career since the only association with the military I'm considering is making stuff for them and not actually fighting. I play fps games and all but the fact that there's no respawn button changes everything, also the enemy is just as capable as you and maybe even more.
After that... I don't know.. making video games?
You really really have to want to make a video game to actually achieve doing it, not really something you could join later after not dedicating your life to it.
About 13 was perfect for me. Independent enough to do some times but not enough to do others. That was the life.
I really dont know what I want to do with my life and I think 13 was the worst time for me, 13 and 12. Reason why is that time was the worst was because I was old enough to see how ****ty the world was but too young to be able to cope with it and it was making me constantly stressed.
Atm I'm just interested in biology, programming phsycology, and general engineering. I dont know at all what I actually want to do with my life other than I want it to do with something of those subjects and have some fun while doing it.
