The past couple days I forced myself to try to get back into a somewhat school mode and look up my professors, check out the class websites, figure out my school and work schedule, find out what books I need, etc. My brain hasn't had to process anything school related in almost 3 months, so even these little tasks hurt my head at the moment. If that wasn't enough, today my mom proceeded to ask me - as she has been doing all summer - "So what are you going to do after college?" I've been able to get away with "Mom, I'll figure it out when fall quarter starts again, ok" but damn, the quarter starts on the 25th and the game plan for post-college life I'm supposed to be drafting in my brain is non-existent. I even sat through a 30-minute video I downloaded from the UCI School of BioSci entitled "What You Can Do with a Bachelor's Degree in Biological Sciences". How convenient right?
The thing is my mom has been hinting to me that she would like to see me pursue more education after earning my B.S. However, I personally have been leaning away from that option and I have always had this perception of myself entering the work force directly after 4 years. I just wish I had thought of all of this sooner. If I really had my heart set on a medical school, I should have made sure to maintain a more competitive GPA and take the right prerequisites according to the program of choice. Same with grad school. As for trying to find a job right out of college, I'm not even sure if I'm better off with this alternative either. I just really don't know what I want. F*ck, it wasn't even until recently that I had a feel for what fields of biology I actually like. How was I supposed to figure out 1-2 years ago what specific program at what specific school I wanted to work towards? The fact that other people already know what they want at this stage in life doesn't make me feel any more prepared for the unknown.
Another thing that has always been in the back of my mind has been serving in the Peace Corps. I've never taken that thought into serious consideration, and but the thought was always there as something that I believe would be life-changing adventure from the norm, all while promoting peace in developing countries and serving the global community. I never thought my life would be able to accomodate 2 years of serving overseas and being away from friends and family; the focus was always on college, then finding a job, jumpstarting your career - you know, what's expected of a typical 20-something year old. Now more than ever that option is a little tempting.
One thing I am sure about is how little time I have to make some pretty grown-up decisions. Let's just hope it's not too little, too late.
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