Question

What did you want to be when you were younger? Did you achieve your dream job now?

Answer 1

I'm currently 16 (junior high school) and I'm thinking of pursuing veterinary medicine (I wanted for a long time to be a chemical engineer but my mom said there aren't enough jobs left for chem. engineers and I realize I'd have to work outside), preferably to be a veterinarian for domestic/zoo animals. However, my parents-- my dad strongly believes to go for courses that will get me a job-- a high demand job such as a nurse in the future. I understand what they mean because I know they love me, and they don't want me to make a big mistake later on. They also said nothing is ever certain in this world-- it's a gamble and I agree. And now I'm confused. I don't want to be a nurse or a teacher (I can't teach for the life of me) but I feel like it's my only choice.

Anyway, if you want you can tell me your story, why you wanted to be what you wanted to be and if so, how you achieved your dream, etc. :) Thank you!

Answer 2

Once you enter the work force, you will spend the majority of your time each week engaged in whatever task or tasks form part of your job. I'd say you should try your darndest to find something that you think you would enjoy doing, something that calls to you. Sometimes, many times, you can only find that by searching out different kinds of classes -- typically at the college level, because what is available to you in high school will be limited. Unless you can enroll in classes at a local community college in the summer?

You might try looking through a college catalog -- not a schedule of classes, but a catalog, with the description of all the courses -- to see which classes interest you. That will help tell you which areas, which disciplines, you are attracted to. You might try also wandering the aisles of your local university bookstore, spending time looking through the books for different classes. Leafing through those books, looking at the table of contents, reading portions of the first chapter -- all of this will tell you whether you have an interest in the subject in question or not. You will end up taking classes that you're not initially drawn to, just because you will need to take a variety of classes in a variety of areas, but getting a feel for which ones you really like, right off the bat, can be helpful.

Your parents have every right to be thinking practically, and you will need to factor practicality into your eventual decision as well. But trends in any field change. If you base your ultimate decision solely on market forces, you could find yourself very very unhappy in the end. And should those markets shift? Should you find that a field you went into only because workers there were needed is then subsequently filled, and not empty, you could then well be left doubly in the lurch. A job you never really wanted might not then be yours for the taking anyway.

Consider too that school is not only for finding work. What you study in college ought to broaden your understanding of the world, and change who you are as a person in that process. College is like travel, only more so.