Growing up
On Saturday I drove from Kamloops to FSJ with my mom and little brother. It was an 11 hour trip giving us lots of time to visit. In those 11 hours we managed to discuss everything from the environment to One Tree Hill and even got into a couple heated political debates.
My mom and I also started hounding my little brother about what he’s going to major in in college. He’s just finishing up Grade 10 and starting high school in the fall. I know it seems like he has a long time to decide what he wants to do, but I remember clearly when I started high school. The time flies by. Not only that, but what you want to do after high school largely determines what classes you should take in high school. I made the mistake of not taking French 12 and had to upgrade in college. My mom doesn’t want Logan to have to upgrade anything if he can help it.
Unlike me, my brother has NO idea what he wants to be when he grows up. In the past two years Logan has toyed with the idea of becoming a chef, a graphic designer, a surgeon (he was largely influenced by Grey’s Anatomy) and a psychiatrist, among other things. He changes his mind on a fairly regular basis, but now he’s reaching the age where he should start thinking about this kind of thing very seriously.
Now-a-days there are so many different careers that you can have when you get certain degrees. Yes, I’m a journalism and public relations major, but does that mean I have to work at a newspaper or radio station when I graduate? No, there are so many different career options for me.
So, I have three questions for you guys:
1. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
2. What was your major in college/university?
3. What do you do now? Do you use your degree?
I’ll go first:
1. I wanted to be a veterinarian, marine biologist, singer and then at the age of 11 I landed on journalist and have stuck with it ever since.
2. I just finished my third year of University. In April 2010 I will graduate with a Bachelor of Journalism majoring in Public Relations.
3. I’m not done school yet! But, I’m really hoping that I will end up in a career in the media and communications field.
Your turn!
Picture found here.
PS: As per a few suggestions I’ve decided the new car must be named. As you’ll see, I have a little poll going on over on the sidebar there. So leave your vote, what’ll it be: Clarence, Jeffrey, Webster Jr. or OTHER. If you have another name suggestion leave a comment on this post, with your suggestion! Poll ends when April 30 when I go back to ________ and Christen him (or her?) with the new name.
I wanted to be in the music industry after college. performing or behind the scenes, it didn’t matter. When i went to college i was a music industry studies major, with a concentration in recording and production. so i was on track to be a sound engineer at a recording studio. i even wrote a 15 page paper compaing sine waves of 4 different microphones. nasty stuff.
then halfway through college i switched to a communications major, radio and tv production. it was the same department as pr and journalism, so i’m right there with ya sister. I wanted to do production for a large commercial radio station, making commercials and things.
Then i abandoned all that when i actually had to make a living. went back to an IT school for industry certifications and started fixing pc’s and writing code. been an IT guy for 10 years.
Most people misunderstand how to use a college degree and the limits of not having one. it takes 10 to 20 years to really separate the grads from the never wents. I’m not trying to insult people who chose or could not go to college. But I was told that a guy who was much better at the same job i was doing was never going to get promoted because he did not have a college degree. He was much better at the job than i was, and was a much better manager. but when you get into upper management, the higher income brackets in the company, it will take the non-degree’d people twice as long to climb that ladder as the folks with a degree.
even my own grandfather chose to go into the merchant marines instead of going to college, and he fought in WWII. Then 30 years later people who were 20 years younger than him with less experience were getting promoted above him because he did not have a peice of paper from college. nobody (including me) sees that when you’re 18 years old. Stay with it Amber!
My education is a sensitive place for me. When I was in my last year of high school, I met a guy who was terribly horrible for me. I went from a 4.1 GPA to a 2.9 in a matter of 60 days.
So, though I won’t invade your comments with the sad story, I will say that I’m changing my mind from psychology to journalism slowly. Ideally I’d LOVE to be a High School Counselor.
We’ll just have to see where life takes me
OH, and car names. It just so happens that I put a lot more attention into car names than I should. My Suzuki Forenza’s name is Vincenzo. Vincenzo Forenza.
I LIKE Jeffrey. But I’m thinking something more exotic and flowing. You have an Elantra.
Eric Elantra (You can call him Rick for Short)
That’s my suggestion.
I wanted to be a teacher and a journalist. When I started college, I was majoring in teaching. After I dropped out, I wanted to change to business. The nursing. Then business or teaching again. Then English. I’m going back to school soon, and I have no idea what I want to do.
Just so you know you have a really weird weightloss commercial at the top right
You know what, I’m pretty much done my degree…and I still don’t know what I want to do exactly!! It’s quite stressful…:(
ps: I had the interview and it went well I think, and I’m supposed to know by Friday!! Gasp!
1. growing up, a lawyer, a doctor, then eventually i knew i wanted to do something in magazines. screen play writer. I still want to do that!
2. it started as photography, but I HATED it. it was god awful! i stuck it out til the end of my 3rd year, and found another major that wouldn’t delay my graduation, and switched over to visual media (it’s graphic design/photography) basically being able to liase between the 2 fields. and graduated a year later!
3. yep — i do graphics, work with some photography for my company. but it’s nothing like working on a magazine — it’s a total fantasy because I know I’d never live in NYC ever again (i did it for 3 months, and decided i prefer to visit!)
=) Give your brother a break!
Right up until high school grad I was convinced that I was going to be a music teacher – but then I realized that I was just caving to pressure and doing what was expected of me. After that, I started university with a focus on Business, but quickly switched to Nutrition (I had to upgrade my Chem – not as big a deal as people think). 3 years in I decided to go back to Business, and here I am!
An education is never wasted, even if you start out studying one thing and end up doing the total opposite. A lot of high schoolers won’t have a hot clue what they want to do until they get out in the world and experience what different careers have to offer, and sample different subjects.
It is ok to not have a plan. All that matters is getting out there and trying different things.
1. I vaguely remember wanting to be a hairdresser as a child, but I think that’s because I thought the lady who cut my hair was super cool.
2. Major in College was English. I had the notion I wanted to be a high school English teacher. I never made it to Education. I freaked out and didn’t apply and then floundered around for a few years.
3. Now I’m in school to be a Speech-Language Pathologist. I guess I am using my first BA to some degree, but not in terms of directly getting a job.
1.I wanted to be a woman in a high powered business suit and heels with a very important job. I’m not sure I had any idea what that might be. And as I grew up I thought I might want to be an athletic trainer, nutritionist, professional coach, sports psychologist, yoga/workout instructor, etc.
2. Journalism with a focus in PR, business and comm studies minors (we have the same background)
3. I work for my university’s alumni association doing marketing and editing. I market our membership program. FYI…you should ALL be dues paying members of your alma mater’s Alumni Association.
I use my degree to some extent with the marketing strategy, writing and editing. However, right out of college I thought I’d be going to a big PR agency. But jobs in the big cities pay crap for newbies and rent would have been totally unaffordable.
1. Growing up I wanted to be a singer (NO I cannot sing at all) or a nightly news woman (I’m afraid of speaking in public). Those didn’t work out, obviously, but point is, I wanted to be “known” for some reason.
2. Animal Science major
3. Right now, I am pursuing veterinary technician school and hoping thats where I fit in. But honestly, I’m still unsure. I love being around animals and helping others, so in theory the vet tech route should work out. Fingers crossed!
1. I always wanted to be a writer and used to write “books” when I was a kid! Wish I still had those!
2. My major started out as Journalism but switched to Apparel Merchandising/Design after my first year (I wanted to be a buyer — paid to shop! HA!) Later figured out that might have been a BIG mistake.
3. Now I work in fashion, but in the retail sector. I started with a very small children’s retailer right out of college (and fell in love with it) but unfortunately it closed in January. Now I’m working for another children’s retailer and *love* it. I no longer want to be a buyer, and have found that I have a knack for managing people and love doing it! I love my job, make great money and make my own schedule — can’t ask for more!
Great post Amber! I hope your brother figures it out soon, it’s a tough decision!!
Your brother will probably change his mind throughout highschool. What counts is that he gets the right general field, I think.
I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was little because I was obsessed with dolphins. Then I learned I hated life science, so that wouldn’t have worked out. So I decided I wanted to be an actress. But then I realized that I wouldn’t make any money, and let’s face it actresses are supposed to be very good looking and I’m not quite there. So I pondered, and realized I loved studying people, and decided to go into psychology. I didn’t really solidify that decision until my sophomore year of high school.
I’m a psych major now and I love it. Sometimes I get jealous of journalism majors because I envy being able to write for a living. But then again, I LOVE learning everything there is to learn about people. We’re fascinating creatures, and so complex.
I haven’t graduated yet, but I definitely plan on using my major because I want to go on to grad school for psychology, probably in the judgment and decision making field. Then go on to do research and contribute to our knowledge of how people work!
~Amanda
When I was in 10th grade I wanted to go to UC Santa Barbara and major in History.
Instead I wound up going to the East Coast and majoring in math & chemistry and then went to grad school at LSU and received a MS in math. Not quite what I was expecting!
1. I think I went to be a teacher and then a pediatrician and then a writer. I changed my mind a million times, and didn’t really decide on a major until I was a junior in college, and didn’t decide on a career until I was already into grad school.
2. I was a double major in English and Religion.
3. I’m in grad school, still on my way to becoming a professor of theology. It’s a long road.
See I don't really agree with this. What I wanted to be in grade 10 is absolutely not at all what I ended up going to university for, nor what I'd remotely want to do now.
While I understand that you shouldn't really mess around in high school taking home ec and media studies, or whatever the "fun" courses are and ignore the basics like sciences, maths, english etc. I don't think you need to be so focused on university requirements and being a grown up at 15. You have years and YEARS of time to make a decision on what you want to do, and while I was pretty traditional in going to uni right after high school, not everyone has to. Also, picking up a course or two here or there in university is fine (I picked up Bio courses since I'd taken Chem & Physics in HS)
Very few university courses require anything more than english and a high-level maths or sciences course for admittance.
You have the rest of your life to be in the real world, with tons of planning and should enjoy high school while you can.
That being said, in gr 10 I wanted to major in Business in university and then in gr 11/12 did a total about-face and decided on kinesiology. As a kid I wanted to be a teacher, a hairdresser, a lawyer etc. Now, I'm obviously in sport management (but basically I'm an administrator -office job!)
I majored in Human Kinetics (kinesiology)
Now I do sport management. Yes I use my degree in that I wouldn't have this job without it, and yes I'm in the sport sector. But no, I don't use the things I learnt in class on a daily basis.
Wanted to be? Teacher/Model
I went to college originally as a political science/pre-law major. I loved it. But I quickly changed over to International Studies which was all international politics, history, theory and French. I was allowed to make my own learning plan, take almost whatever class I wanted to and it was really awesome.
Now? i’m in business. Getting my MBA at night (well, not this semester but I’ll be back at it soon). I don’t use my degree at all which saddens me but I hope that maybe someday it will change. I miss politics and history. Had I thought about it more I would have become a political science/history teacher.
answering this blog a day late, but better late than never! I was actually thinking the other day of writing a similar blog but you beat me to the punch
1. I wanted to be lots of things when I “grew up.” Horse rancher, singer, basketball player, archaeologist, interior decorator, makeup artist, writer. As you can see, I had lots of different interests…
2. When I first started college, I was a music major. Still trying to fulfill that dream of being a singer, I guess. But really, I just love music and didn’t know what else to do with myself but pursue my passion. I was a music major (vocal emphasis) for a year but the classes, though I did well for the most part, started to strip me of that passion. I felt sad, defeated. And I realized that I didn’t know what I would do with a music degree. So, I switched majors. My thought was, I like magazines. I like to write. I’m good at English. How about journalism? Luckily, I fell in love with journalism and that is what I got my degree in.
3. Today, I am using my degree! writing for my hometown’s community weekly, covering crime, government and people. It is hard and stressful at times, but at the end of the day I love it.
Finally, about your brother, I totally understand having a younger brother who doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, but I think as long as he graduates high school, he will be in good shape. My brother was a dropout and had to go to adult school to get his degree. At 22, he still lives at home and doesn’t have a job other than playing video games. So as long as your brother keeps his eye on the future and does want to do something with his life, has any goals at all, then I’m sure he will figure it out in a few years.