By Grace Xiong, Health Professions Peer Ambassador
Healthcare is a diverse field with so many professions and specialties which all have an important role to play, and all make a difference in the lives of patients. This can also make it hard to decide which path to follow, whether that be physician, dentist, physician associate, nurse, optometry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and everything in between. College is a time for exploration and learning more about ourselves and what we want for the future! At the same time, it can feel daunting or feel like we’re falling behind if we don’t have everything figured out.
If you feel unsure about which direction you want to go in the future and find yourself at a fork in the road, you’re not alone. I started out as pre-dental and was in a BS/DMD program for three years of my time as an undergraduate, but at the beginning of my senior year, I ended up switching from pre-dental to pre-med. I never lost my love of teeth or dental health, but instead it was a gradual realization that my goals, values, and passions aligned more closely with medicine than dentistry. Still, it was a decision that took me years to figure out and was one of the hardest decisions I made.
Figuring out what we want in terms of careers can feel daunting, and it can be scary that there’s no straightforward answer. Sometimes it can feel like careers are a fate, like you’re destined for one thing and one thing only. The reality is that there is no right answer, and there isn’t necessarily a right answer for any one person either. Many people can find happiness and fulfillment in multiple paths, and it can be cultivated within any job or career. Just because I ended up deciding on medicine doesn’t mean that I couldn’t have also had a meaningful or happy life as a dentist. Everyone will have different values and priorities that influence their choices, so this decision-making process is very individualized which is completely okay!
If you find yourself in this situation, there are many things you can do to help make this decision. It can help to gather more information about your options, then compare it to your values, strengths and weaknesses, what you want to do, and who you want to be in the future. This is where reflecting on shadowing and clinical experience can be incredibly useful. Think about the experiences you’ve had and what you liked or didn’t like about it, what settings or environments did you prefer, what type of patient interactions felt more meaningful to you or matched your personality, how you felt about the experience at the end of the day, and how they aligned with you as a person. While shadowing, ask clinicians about what made them choose their field over others, what their favorite/least favorite parts of their job were, and what their day-to-day looks like.
Collecting information about each path is crucial to making an educated decision, but in the end, the decision will vary from person to person because everyone is unique in their values, preferences, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and personality. One field is not objectively better than another; it’s more about how good of a fit it is for you. What matters the most to you, what are you willing to sacrifice versus what you’re unwilling to give up in your future, what do you look for most in a career, what brings you the most happiness and purpose?
You can ask friends, family, or other people that know you well what they can better picture you as, as they can pick up on signs from you that you may miss. At the same time, it is important to remember that everyone comes in with their own opinions and preconceptions, and while other people’s opinions may help inform the decision, the choice should ultimately fall to you.
It’s okay to not have everything figured out. Healthcare is a major life commitment, and it’s important to think through the decision to make sure it’s right for you. College is a great time to explore and learn more about yourself so you can use that wisdom to guide you in which direction to take your life. Exploring diverging roads and taking the time to figure out what you want in your life can make all the difference.
Grace is a senior majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology with an individualized double major in Global Health, Human Rights, and Food Justice. Click here to learn more about and connect with Grace.