What to do in Life.

[DEATHMASTER]

So I've been at this since the beginning of HS (perhaps before). But I still have no real idea what I want to do! I'm a sophomore in college. I'm most probable to go into one of the following (with a biochem major): biology or biochemistry grad work, Medical school, Pharmaceutical school, just maybe something I don't know I want to do yet. Out of them I guess I want biology or pharm school the most. Medical school the least (6 more years ffs, to do something I only remotely am somewhat interested in (Indian parents :O supreme encouragement) Chances are I wouldn't get into one anyways but it's a possibility. I thought about computers and game design once upon a time but I think the most I'll have interest in it is perhaps custom building my own rig one day and gaming/chattin it all up.

What do you guys do (or how did you know when you definitely wanted to do it)? Post your story, maybe I can somehow figure this out before I waste more time or money.

 

[CptStern]

So I've been at this since the beginning of HS (perhaps before). But I still have no real idea what I want to do! I'm a sophomore in college. I'm most probable to go into one of the following (with a biochem major): biology or biochemistry grad work, Medical school, Pharmaceutical school, just maybe something I don't know I want to do yet. Out of them I guess I want biology or pharm school the most. Medical school the least (6 more years ffs, to do something I only remotely am somewhat interested in (Indian parents :O supreme encouragement) Chances are I wouldn't get into one anyways but it's a possibility. I thought about computers and game design once upon a time but I think the most I'll have interest in it is perhaps custom building my own rig one day and gaming/chattin it all up.

What do you guys do (or how did you know when you definitely wanted to do it)? Post your story, maybe I can somehow figure this out before I waste more time or money.

stick with what you're good at ..go down the pharmaceutical route ..you could easily make as much as a medical practioner without all the baggage that comes with it ..as the population ages there's more and more demand for pharmaceuticals ..it's a booming industry

my cousin in spain is a vet, he's now on a board of a pharmaceutical company ..he hasnt gotten "dirty" in a long time ..and actually works decent hours instead of the 12-18 hr days when he worked for the livestock industry

 

[Dekstar]

Well I too once wanted to go into games design (like many kids do at some point), but I soon learned that I had the potential to be an incredible writer, and am now doing Creative and Professional Writing at university, which is an amazing course with amazing tutors.

I guess if you're not sure at the moment what you want your specialty to be, you should research each thoroughly. Think about pros, cons, what your boredom level might be if you tend to change subjects often, what future jobs you think will be the most challenging/rewarding.
Eventually, if you trust yourself and your mind, you'll come to the conclusion best suited to your future. Good luck.

 

[TimoJay]

Don't worry, my good bud was an open option for the first few years of college and look at him now!

(he dropped out after three years and now works at wendy's)

Anyway, find something that you're good at, but also challenges you. It'll get interesting... (at least that's how it was for me) Engineering is just awesome for me; I love the feeling of making something from nothing.

One of my final projects was a sort-of guitar hero for any MIDI keyboard. You could play Zelda song of storms, tetris theme song, koopa troopa beach; it was the coolest thing evar! (at least for me)

here's a piccy:

 

[MJ12]

When all else fails. Grow.

 

[dfc05]

Pharmacy seems like a good choice. My cousin does that... you get paid a lot but your job might get kind of boring and you might have to stand behind a counter for long periods of time if you work at a grocery store/Walmart/CVS. For biology job, you'd probably have to go to grad school and do research, although their research always sounds pretty cool. If you find a prof to research with, maybe you can find out if you'd like to do bio or biochem grad school. There are some cool pre-meds I know, but there's a bunch of them who get into the whole "You have to do a study abroad and research and work at a hospital and study 8 hours a day for the MCAT" mentality, and that's just pretty crazy.

For me, I'm a junior in chemical engineering but don't know what to do. The main problem is that I don't want a normal chemical engineering job (like working at a chem plant). I really want to go into environmental engineering, either in a consulting job or in the environmental department of a company that I can respect, or maybe switch over to an environmental engineering department in grad school. I've done research in air quality... it's alright but I need to get some experience in water treatment and/or remediation before I can decide which aspect I like most.

Don't worry, my good bud was an open option for the first few years of college and look at him now!

(he dropped out after three years and now works at wendy's)

Anyway, find something that you're good at, but also challenges you. It'll get interesting... (at least that's how it was for me) Engineering is just awesome for me; I love the feeling of making something from nothing.

One of my final projects was a sort-of guitar hero for any MIDI keyboard. You could play Zelda song of storms, tetris theme song, koopa troopa beach; it was the coolest thing evar! (at least for me)

here's a piccy:

That looks pretty cool. Electrical engineering? Seems like y'all get pretty cool final projects. For my major, the topic comes out to be something like, "Design a chemical plant."

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Nice to hear more good on pharmaceuticals. I have a couple relatives in the business. I'm gonna talk to them a bit more.

 

[theotherguy]

So I've been at this since the beginning of HS (perhaps before). But I still have no real idea what I want to do! I'm a sophomore in college. I'm most probable to go into one of the following (with a biochem major): biology or biochemistry grad work, Medical school, Pharmaceutical school, just maybe something I don't know I want to do yet. Out of them I guess I want biology or pharm school the most. Medical school the least (6 more years ffs, to do something I only remotely am somewhat interested in (Indian parents :O supreme encouragement) Chances are I wouldn't get into one anyways but it's a possibility. I thought about computers and game design once upon a time but I think the most I'll have interest in it is perhaps custom building my own rig one day and gaming/chattin it all up.

What do you guys do (or how did you know when you definitely wanted to do it)? Post your story, maybe I can somehow figure this out before I waste more time or money.

Do what you want to do. If you enjoy biochem, do it. If you feel like you're being pushed by your parents into something you don't like, don't listen to them. It's your life, not theirs. Especially at this point.

 

[Dan]

Do what you want to do. If you enjoy biochem, do it. If you feel like you're being pushed by your parents into something you don't like, don't listen to them. It's your life, not theirs. Especially at this point.

Unless they are paying for you to live and go to school, in which case it is their life, and they have every right to make sure their money is used the way they see fit.

 

[theotherguy]

Unless they are paying for you to live and go to school, in which case it is their life, and they have every right to make sure their money is used the way they see fit.

Touche.

 

[Krynn72]

Unless they are paying for you to live and go to school, in which case it is their life, and they have every right to make sure their money is used the way they see fit.

Which should be to see their child grow up happy and successful doing what he wants for a career.


Heres my story:

When I was in my senior year in High School I pretty much knew I wanted to do something with computer animation. But many of the schools for that were expensive, and me, being the person I am, didnt want my parents to spend such vast amounts of money on me. So I opted to go to a state university (costed 3 grand a semester). In three semesters I changed my major 3 times. Computer Science, then Fine Arts, then Graphic design. I was the most bored I have ever been in those three years of my life. None of it interested me at all. So I stopped going, and started looking at schools dealing with Computer animation. I decided to go to Full Sail and in less than 2 years I got a bachelor degree in computer animation. Best decision I ever made.

 

[Dan]

Which should be to see their child grow up happy and successful doing what he wants for a career.

Have you ever had parents? A parent's idea of what will make a child happy and a child's idea are never the same. Even if they were the same, the knowledge that your parents want you to do it would make you want to do something else instinctively.

 

[Krynn72]

My parents wanted me to do what I wanted. So I did it.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Actually my parents are fine with biochem and pharm. They just prefer Med the most since it's more money and other benefits. But both difficulty and time is what makes me want to not do it the most. I've told them that and they said do the best you can and whatever you get, you get. It'll all come down to what I get accepted into. Then I guess the real decision comes.

 

[kineaesth]

I'll choose for you. I'll flip a coin. Oh! Cool, it's tails. Now, decide what is heads and what is tails, and you'll know what to do.

 

[FoB_Ed]

Actually my parents are fine with biochem and pharm. They just prefer Med the most since it's more money and other benefits. But both difficulty and time is what makes me want to not do it the most. I've told them that and they said do the best you can and whatever you get, you get. It'll all come down to what I get accepted into. Then I guess the real decision comes.

You'll make ridiculous amounts of money in Pharmacy! Go for it man, whatever makes you happy.

I'm a religious studies major, I'm pretty much destined to be poor. But it's ok, at least I'll be doing what I love!

 

[VirusType2]

Figure out how to get paid to do something you like. That's it. That's the trick. Right there in our faces. If you can't - or don't, you. will. be. miserable. Forever.

I always wanted to make video games. Ever since I was like 10

in case that doesn't work out for me, I also always wanted to own a pet store that had tons of really uncommon fish, with really nicely arranged aquariums. A pet store that familys would come to and look at with their enthralled children, and hopefully - buy stuff.

Always hated those pet stores where it was just a bunch of 10 gallon tanks with identical gravel in each tank, and the fish were wishing they were dead.

 

[Mr-Fusion]

What to do in life?

You must go to Dagobah, there you will meet Yoda, the Jedi master who instructed me.

 

[Eejit]

I was in a similar position a couple of years back. I decided on Biotechnology/Molecular and Cell biology for my degree.
Mainly because I want to go into research working with transgenics. I didn't go for pharmacy or biochem because I don't enjoy the chemistry aspects as much as the 'pure' biology, but they are good degrees with good jobs.
To be honest any good biology-related degree can get you a good job these days, it's just easier to get started with Pharmacy and you generally have better starting wages.

 

[Dan]

You really shouldn't be taking advice from a group of people of which about half are younger than you, and your only relationship is a website about a video game where a scientist shoots aliens.

 

[CptStern]

You really shouldn't be taking advice from a group of people of which about half are younger than you, and your only relationship is a website about a video game where a scientist shoots aliens.

posted elsewhere

as a general rule people dont ask for other people's advice because they want their advice ..they ask so that the person can confirm their own pov

 

[jondy]

You really shouldn't be taking advice from a group of people of which about half are younger than you, and your only relationship is a website about a video game where a scientist shoots aliens.

Maybe stop giving it, then?

 

[Dynasty]

My parents have paid for me to go through school and Uni, but I DO have to pay the Uni payments back. But then again, thats their obligatory responsibility as parents, arguably. Im not saying parents SHOULD pay for their kids to go through, but its kinda 'unexpected by society' to NOT pay if you can afford to.

However, what I choose to do with my life is completely up to me. Thats the way it should be. If someone is paying for you to get where you are and FORCING you to do something they think is right for you, but you dont want to do it or feel youd do better somewhere else, then tell them youre ever so grateful for their financial support, but it IS YOUR LIFE and you should be doing what you want.

Like me for instance, Im going to finish Uni, do a year in work to save up and travel the world for 6-12 months or something before I really start getting a potential life-time job. Its what I want, its what im going to do, regardless of what anyone else wants/says.

Its your life man. ***king live it the way you want it.

 

[repiV]

This probably isn't going to be of much help to you, but it's food for thought nonetheless. There probably wasn't much point in you going to university in the first place. A degree is of very questionable value outside of specific career paths, and if you have no idea what you want to do, then it's utterly pointless to go to uni. Noone will give a shit about your degree, once you actually get into the working world it's irrelevant (again, with the exception of certain specialised careers).

I really don't understand why it's the "done thing" to go to uni these days, irrespective of any kind of rational decision-making process which in all likelihood will suggest getting a job as the better option.

Now since you're already two years in, how does this help you? Well, try not to make too many assumptions about choices that are going to be good for you. It might seem sensible to take a specialised major which leads into a lucrative career, but what if you hate it?
And do you really want the stress of said lucrative career in your early twenties? I tried the high-flying thing, it actually sucked. Once you get over the whole ooh I have an awesome sounding job, I wear a nice suit, have lots of money and close big deals euphoria, it's rather hollow. I ended up working 10/11 hour days with no lunch break and I'd just turned 21, I never had any time, energy or thought processes for anything except work all week. It was soul-destroying, and I felt like I'd aged ten years in the space of a few months.
Save this career crap for when you're a bit older, IMO. Otherwise, as they say, youth is wasted on the young...

 

[Sulkdodds]

You keep saying 'with the exception of specialised careers' but he's a scientific major. Biochemistry. That's fairly specialised already.
Where the hell else would you learn to DO SCIENCE?

Luckily, I know exactly what I want to do after university, and, generally speaking, I know how to get there - hell, I'm already doing it in practise form. The whole thing's also a nice social environment as well though, in some sense it's enough of a life experience to be a least partly worth the time (if not, for that reason alone, the money). And if you really enjoy a subject (I do) there is a joy to be had simply in pursuing it for its own sake, learning because of learning. There are decent reasons to go to university!

Not least that half the available subjects are actually pretty specialised (engineering, materials science, theology?).

 

[dfc05]

Figure out how to get paid to do something you like. That's it. That's the trick. Right there in our faces. If you can't - or don't, you. will. be. miserable. Forever.

I always wanted to make video games. Ever since I was like 10

in case that doesn't work out for me, I also always wanted to own a pet store that had tons of really uncommon fish, with really nicely arranged aquariums. A pet store that familys would come to and look at with their enthralled children, and hopefully - buy stuff.

Always hated those pet stores where it was just a bunch of 10 gallon tanks with identical gravel in each tank, and the fish were wishing they were dead.

Aquarium stores are awesome! I've always wanted to get a pufferfish or one of those black knife fish, but I probably wouldn't be able to keep it alive.


For a couple of years, I wanted to write videogame reviews, but I'm kinda glad I grew out of that phase. Before that, I wanted to be a biologist. And before that, I wanted to be a bum. (OK actually I wanted to be an artist, but my mom told me I'd be poor and live on the streets, so I was going to be homeless and my cousin and I were going to live in a cardboard box together. Turns out I really suck at art anyways.)

 

[repiV]

You keep saying 'with the exception of specialised careers' but he's a scientific major. That's fairly specialised already.

Aye, but if he doesn't actually like working in science, hasn't it all been a colossal waste of time?

Luckily, I know exactly what I want to do after university, and, generally speaking, I know how to get there - hell, I'm already doing it in practise form. The whole thing's also a nice social environment as well though. And if you really enjoy a subject (I do) there is a joy to be had simply in pursuing it for its own sake, learning because of learning. There are decent reasons to go to university!

Not least that half the available subjects are actually pretty specialised (engineering, materials science, theology?).

It's great if you know what you want to do. Fairly rare, though, at this age. I feel that most people's idea of what constitutes a good life is based on preconceived notions fed to them by a highly materialistic society - and many will delude themselves into continuing to lead a lifestyle that is self-destructive to them for decades.
Being a high-earner has more downsides than upsides, especially if, like me, you're the free-spirited type. "Careers" demand a huge commitment including sacrificing much of your personal life, and your freedom. The more you climb up that career path, and the more you earn, and the more you get accustomed to having that level of earnings, the more trapped you are. Your money owns you. The further you climb, the harder you fall. etc.
I've been working for three years now. I've been everything from a motorcycle courier to a recruitment consultant and I still don't know what I really want to do. But that's better than spending three years climbing a career path that doesn't give you what you want. I'll have plenty of time for slaving away at the office when I'm older...
Point being that specialisation starts with university, and just as easily as a path to opportunity, it can be the thing that baits you into a miserable life that totally doesn't suit you, even though you appear to be doing well by all the socio-economic indicators. Opening doors for yourself is no good if they're the wrong doors.
And make no mistake, having a "good job" seriously cripples your freedom to do the things you want to do. It's an oft-overlooked conundrum that warrants serious consideration.

 

[Sulkdodds]

It's true that for plenty of people of a certain class, university is taken as the default option, and perhaps it shouldn't be (there is some politics at work here, something to do with a fairly indiscriminate 50%-in-higher-education target, and the simultaneous wrecking of the apprenticeship system - but we need not go into it).

It's good to hear such accounts. I think you're right that people's visions of the future are (to an extent) constructed, but I honestly think most people care more about doing something they find is fulfilling, rather than simply getting a lot of money - or at least, they think this is what they think. Affluence is always a plus, but it seems like the majority would rather be doing something they want to do. I suppose it is sometimes very difficult to work out exactly what that is. Of course, then you get the whole capitalism-makes-people-think-suburbia-will-be-fulfilling-creates-false-desires-to-displace-real-life stuff, but it seems unnecessary to explore that right now.

It is a frequently-observed condition in modern life, this being locked into a rut, this perpetual grey office. One hopes that if one is motivated enough, lucky enough, talented enough or simply has will enough, one can avoid it.

EDIT: it seems like a lot of the time people DO NOT KNOW what they want to do with their lives, and end up just falling into something that they never really chose.

 

[repiV]

It's true that for plenty of people of a certain class, university is taken as the default option, and perhaps it shouldn't be (there is some politics at work here, something to do with a fairly indiscriminate 50%-in-higher-education target, and the simultaneous wrecking of the apprenticeship system - but we need not go into it).

I'm still not sure that this whole class malarkey has any relevance in the modern world. Obviously there is an upper class, but it's infinitely tiny. The rest of us are just varying degrees of working class...
Virtually everyone I knew at college went on to university and saw it as the only option. Plenty of really stupid and lazy people got accepted at various unis, which to me just undermines the whole credibility of higher education. I never heard the end of "what, you're not going to uni?!" from either students or staff. Just because I'm good at English doesn't mean I have even the faintest desire to study it at university...

It's good to hear such accounts. I think you're right that people's visions of the future are (to an extent) constructed, but I honestly think most people care more about doing something they find is fulfilling, rather than simply getting a lot of money - or at least, they think this is what they think. Affluence is always a plus, but it seems like the majority would rather be doing something they want to do.

Oh, absolutely. Sorry, I wasn't quite clear there - I wasn't just talking about the money aspect (although that is the bigger part of it). People rush into things they think they will love, but the reality can be very different from the fantasy.
I was really excited about working in recruitment. For the first six weeks or so, I loved it. I didn't want to go home at night and I couldn't wait to get in in the morning. But it took over my life, and I was overworked to an extreme degree (although it was just considered normal there...). In a very short period of time, it went from being utterly brilliant, to being so awful I dreaded work every day. The pressure and responsibility involved is absolutely crushing, and due to the nature of the job, your job is on the line every single day. You can literally be the star of the office one month, and on very thin ice the next. At the time I found it very difficult to take it so damn seriously like everyone else did, the kind of life-or-death attitude to meeting targets at all costs just pissed me right off, it wasn't as important to me as it was to them. It didn't help that the ruthless attitude I had to employ at work started seeping into my personal life, either.
I love riding motorbikes, more than anything else in the world. Even if it's cold, dark and pissing it down, I'll still go out for a ride for no reason. But I hated being a courier. Spending ten hours a day on the bike, perpetually subjected to everything that the British weather can throw at you, getting forever lost on confusing London streets, taking insane chances with life and limb to pull in the money (paid by the job, and it ain't much at all), getting almost killed by idiotic drivers several times a day...sucked ALL the fun out of riding. Unbelievably dangerous, too - if I had kept at it, it would have only been a matter of time before it all went badly wrong. Apparently being a motorbike courier in London is the most dangerous occupation in the world. Oh, and people treat you like shit. Receptionists take great pleasure in regarding you as some kind of filthy peasant when you come to deliver their precious package.
I think the problem is that we all need variety in our lives, and the nature of work is to deny that. Too much of a good thing quickly becomes a bad thing. And the work culture in this country is driven by long hours and sacrifice, which is not healthy and something I now wholeheartedly reject. My rule now is that I will work 9-5 (at a push, 9-6), I expect to be able to take my entire lunch break without breaking some kind of office taboo, and I will leave the office the minute I am supposed to. I don't give two shits how much it jeopardises my prospects, **** those wankers who think I should have to work several hours a week more per week than I have agreed to and am getting paid for.
Maybe I'd be better off in somewhere like France...

I suppose it is sometimes very difficult to work out exactly what that is. It is a frequently-observed condition in modern life, this being locked into a rut, this perpetual grey office. One hopes that if one is motivated enough, lucky enough, talented enough or simply has will enough, one can avoid it.

Yeah. Happiness is such an elusive thing these days, something people experience in fleeting moments rather than as an ongoing state of mind. I don't think it's something to do with human nature, I think it's a condition of modern life. We place no importance on the things that really matter in life, and expend all our energy on chasing things that can never satisfy us (more money, more success, etc.).
I just want to live a simple life, doing the things I want to do, seeing the people I want to see, with as little interference from anyone else as possible. It's harder than it sounds, unfortunately.

 

[evil^milk]

When all else fails. Grow.

Grow as in, catch up with your age, personal growth, ...?

Aquarium stores are awesome! I've always wanted to get a pufferfish or one of those black knife fish, but I probably wouldn't be able to keep it alive.


For a couple of years, I wanted to write videogame reviews, but I'm kinda glad I grew out of that phase. Before that, I wanted to be a biologist. And before that, I wanted to be a bum. (OK actually I wanted to be an artist, but my mom told me I'd be poor and live on the streets, so I was going to be homeless and my cousin and I were going to live in a cardboard box together. Turns out I really suck at art anyways.)

In high school, I wanted to be a biologist combined with something with chemistry. Despite the hard work and time restrictions, I managed to get good grades while enjoying both subjects.

Creatively, I reached a point where the piano is the thing I enjoyed the most. But realistically, I didn't have a chance. Strangely, when I entered a short phase of sleep loss and not eating well, making strange objects and vivid colors flourish around me, I had the impression that the creative levels peaked. Since there were no outside observers to judge whether this was true or just rambling nonsense, I gather that piano might be that kind of thing one grows out of for the best.

What I found was the most enjoyable thing to do, though, is to ace through academics while focusing on those two subjects. My first semester in community college was really easy, academic-wise but was awesome on the social aspect (very liberalizing).

It could be that what I'm made for is something similar, specially since my sanity and intelligence depends on a constant flow of work and the presence of lots of people.

Do you remember what the first few courses of your degree were like? I think I'd better see, with realism, if something like this is for me.

 

[Dan]

Figure out how to get paid to do something you like. That's it. That's the trick. Right there in our faces. If you can't - or don't, you. will. be. miserable. Forever.

I foresee a janitorless world in our future.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Grow as in, catch up with your age, personal growth, ...?

Erections.

 

[Raziaar]

stick with what you're good at ..go down the pharmaceutical route ..you could easily make as much as a medical practioner without all the baggage that comes with it ..as the population ages there's more and more demand for pharmaceuticals ..it's a booming industry

Yeah... he won't get sued personally, it's just the company he works for that'll get sued. Heh.

Have you ever had parents? A parent's idea of what will make a child happy and a child's idea are never the same. Even if they were the same, the knowledge that your parents want you to do it would make you want to do something else instinctively.

Well I can't talk about my mom, since the only thing she ever talks about is religion... but my dad has always wanted me to just succeed in something I'm good at. Granted I've not done anything, but still... not all parents are douchebags like which you describe.


If I share with my dad information about something which will make me happy, he'll reciprocate that enthusiasm.

 

[Escaep]

Find something you really like to do. If you really like pharmaceutical stuff, go for it. You don't want to be stuck with a job you dont like.

 

[VirusType2]

I foresee a janitorless world in our future.

Some people like to clean

Aquarium stores are awesome! I've always wanted to get a pufferfish or one of those black knife fish, but I probably wouldn't be able to keep it alive.

oh I had one of both of those. The black knife fish was one of the fish that made me think there were like infinite species out there to see. It was cool. I think you have to feed it blood worms... I may be thinking of the elephant nose fish or the ghost fish. It's been about 18 years since I had one of those.

I even had a small freshwater stingray. That was probably the rarest freshwater fish I ever had. I went into saltwater fish after that.

 

[Azner]

I vurk at de Muthu indian curree house dar.
Deh the food we make door dar.

Do what youre good at.