I've been doing a bit of research on colleges, majors, and careers lately. I am exceptionally undecided right now, but these are a few things I've been considering for a while...
Concerning colleges, we have:
OSU
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK
Pros: My wonderful Vietnamese exchange sister Annie is planning to attend this fall. It's only about an hour and thirty minutes away from home. In-state tuition fee is awesome, plenty of scholarships available, reasonable choices, nice campus. I've been up there several times. It already feels like a place I could just go down to and chill for a while if I wanted. All minimum AP scores are 3's, so I'll be getting some credit if this year's tests go well.
Cons: Other people from school will be going there, though. People say that everything changes in college, but even still, I would rather not stay in contact with quite a few people whom I attend school with right now. I want a do-over. A fresh start, and I plan on being less reserved in college as well on more then one aspect concerning myself. And orange. Bleh.
UNT
University of North Texas
Denton, TX
Pros: It's only a few hours from home, but enough to be away from it all. A new scene, a fresh start, on my own, and that's really what I'm coming to expect out of college. Tuition isn't bad and scholarships are completely obtainable there. Those majors. Oh man. So many majors. Huge campus is huge. It's a big school, but that means more people to meet and a bigger selection of clubs and classes. And green. Oh yes.
Cons: Housing and other things will be more expensive since I'm not a resident, but it's really nothing close to Rice University or Hamilton's cost. Farther dive from home and the parents, but I don't expect to be coming home nearly every weekend or anything. It just makes it harder to come up for things like Mother's Day and birthdays. My AP European history test score will have to be at least a 4 to get any sort of credit, also. My AP English should be okay, though. It has lots of people, but that also means crowded classes. This is not a college that brags on its student-teacher ratio. I'd rather not be taking classes in an auditorium.
Texas A&M
College Station, TX
Pros: Nice, big, selective school. My family loves the football team. I look awesome in that maroon-ish red color. Also a school with a wide selection of things. It's a big name. A little more expensive, but also not way out there, either. Attractive major options, attractive looking campus, attractive selection of merit-based scholarships. It also ranks high on the equality, openmindedness, friendliness, all-inclusiveness scale, if you know what I mean. For real, it is nationally ranked.
Cons: No AP European history credit. I have to make a 4 on AP English. Again, a large number of students most likely means a large number of classmates. A matter of hours away, but too far to just come up whenever I'd like to. Nearly everything else I mentioned about UNT..
Those are only the universities I'm most seriously considering right now. I'm also looking at Tampa University, Boston University, and possibly even Tulsa University depending on where life takes me this next year. I have quite a bit of time left I know, and people can change over a matter of 11-12 months, especially kids. I just feel very pressured to have to settle on something and make all these major decisions now. I figure I just have to stay open-minded about things. Career path's my major concern while looking for colleges anyway. Which brings me to the next topic..
Careers:
Attorney
Pros: I'm good with words. English is my strong point. I like reasoning and I'm good at it if it's not with my dad or individuals who see no reason to consider reason. Good salary. Quite a few career options that fall under a law degree. I also like that is requires you to be clever.
Cons: I do not like the idea of working with people, though. Divorce and bankruptcy, I could do it but I would not enjoy it. There is still quite a bit of research I've been meaning to do about this career path, but those are my exceptionally inelaborate pros and cons.
Geneticist
Pros: Genetics are AWESOME. Human genetics. Jellyfish genetics. The Human Genome Project. Just all of it. Oomf. Fascination. Lab work is something I thing I'd really enjoy and all the high profile scientific journals are all over this career field right now. It's spreading like poison ivy. There's endless things left to discover about the human genome and the things that can be done with genetics. Genetic engineering is living the dream, basically.
Cons: Math. My Achilles' heel in the anatomy of academia. I despise it so. Any college offering a degree in genetics seems to offer it like a math major with just a little biology and chemistry lab thrown in on the side. I've never taken a more stressful, crazy-making class then calculus. I'd like to avoid maths if at all possible in a college environment.
Journalist/Photojournalism
Pros: Travel. Camera fun, writing fun, interview and data fun. If I'm working for a major organization, it could become an giant passion project. If I work for a science journal, it could be a combination of career fields and interests.
Cons: Popular career field. Competition like crazy. The possibility of having to deal with censored stories or images. The need to show things in an unbiased manner.
Doctor
Pros: Being a smarty pants with lots of know-how about medical things. I'd know my own body better and be able to help other people. I'd really want to be a surgeon so I could be the one doing the cutting and giving some of the orders. High salary isn't so bad, either.
Cons: Standing and walking all day. Not so bad, but it's physically demanding as well as intellectually demanding. That working with people's problems thing comes into play here also. I'm not against people entirely, but it seems to be the other way around sometimes, but with professional standing that's likely to change. Personal morals come into question a lot. What if someone died under your knife? Would I have a clear enough mind from one surgery to the next? Also, about 12 years of being a student and working as an intern. And math. Ew. Tons of math here also. I can take blood and guts and gore, but math makes my stomach churn.
Again, just a few options I've been considering lately. I've set my goals pretty high, and I could reach anything if I pushed myself hard enough. My main focus is to just enjoy life. I want to end up loving where I go to school. I want to be the dork who wears the school's color all the time with a school bumper sticker on my car and involved in tons of clubs and maybe even sports (track and field!). With my career, too, I want it to be my passion. I fully expect it to be something I love, not only something I need to do to get by.
I'm young. I'm optimistic. I have big dreams. I have important decisions to make.
I also have a fish. His name is Kaiser. He was won at the fair for me. He's swimming around in a tiny bowl on my bookshelf. I love fish. I missed having them around.
Ramblerambleramble. I'm done. Bed for me.
Happy first blog post.
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