Major ≠ Career...

... or so my First Years Studies 101 book tells me.

I have realized over the past couple of years that the question "What is your major?" or "What are you going to major in?" often comes up a lot when students are discussing their future career plans or goals. I know from personal experience that every time anyone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered "doctor." It wasn't until the end of my junior year/beginning of my senior year that I decided that I wanted to be a pediatric cardiologist. Why do I wanna be a pediatric cardiologist, you ask? Because I was inspired by my mandatory visit to a pediatric cardiologist at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital when I was 15. I was born with and am still living with two heart defects, and seeing a cardiologist really sparked up my passion for working with children who share similar conditions.

Growing up, I always wanted to be a pediatrician. After learning more about myself and becoming more aware of my flaws and abilities, I realized that I probably wouldn't be a successful pediatrician due to my inability to control and contain my short temper and my ridiculously low tolerance and patience levels. I also realized that I didn't wanna work with adults with heart conditions, so I combined my two interests into one, ultimately creating a very successful career path.

How does this relate to my major? Simple. Right now, my intended major is Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology. I made this decision around second semester of my senior year (I was originally going to major in Chemistry). After doing a research project for my Health Science Education class, I discovered that most cardiologists majored in some type of Biological Science in college. I was going to major in plain ol' Biology until I searched the major catalogues for the University and Tennessee and learned that Biological Sciences majors have to choose a specific concentration to major in. The rest of them (Microbiology, Ecology, etc.) were of no interest to me, and you should be able to figure out the rest from there.

So here I am, a freshman wanting to major in BCMB, with a strong DISLIKE for upper-level mathematics. You might ask me "Jennifer, how do you expect to be a doctor if you don't like math?" Well, I honestly don't know... I just figured I'd push my way through college and do what I need to do in order to do well and to get into medical school. Hopefully, my plan works out. If not... I really don't know what I'd do. I don't have a second option or a back up plan in case my original one fails. If I don't get into medical school, I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life. I don't really have any other strong interests that I could see myself pursuing a career in.

Anyway, the whole point of this entry is to say that college professors really don't pressure students to know what they wanna major in as soon as they enter their first term of college. I, on the other hand, believe that you should have a fairly good idea of what you wanna do with the rest of your life by the time you graduate – if not earlier. Students going into their senior year of high school with no idea of what college they would like to attend really upset me.

Like, really...

What the fuck are you doing with your life?

... That is all.