What should I do with my future career wise?Answered
I am 16 and in 10th grade, I have a GPA of a 2.6 (that’s only one semester) I want to go into prehospital care (paramedic) but have a low GPA, and am terrible in biology and sciences needed for it, how can I prepare myself for it? I can’t seem to get myself to change career path any advice? Everything I read and test on for careers lead me to the medical field. I want to go into that but don’t think that’s much of an option. Advice on how to prepare, change my career, and how I can improve would be very nice. Does anyone know if any free sites or organizations I could join or any good sites I can look those up in my area?
Earn karma by helping others:
2 answers
I would recommend that there's really only one way for you to choose a future career, and that is to decide whether you like it and the things related to it, not whether other people/external sources tell you that you should be going into that career.
If you don't like biology and other sciences, medicine is absolutely not the right fit for you and not something that you should be committing yourself to.
If you like biology and the sciences, even if you think they're not your strongest subjects they could be a totally fine thing for you to plan on pursuing professionally. In this latter category, you're going to want to improve your academic performance in STEM related classes, and that's going to involve doing extra work, going to your teachers for help, reading outside materials, using external study sources, and involving yourself in related extracurriculars. These strategies, again, only make sense -- and only have a chance at being effective! -- if you are genuinely interested in the subject. If you don't like something, it will be nearly impossible to maintain the discipline and focus necessary to drastically improve your performance/fundamental abilities. But if you do, nothing is impossible! And you shouldn't let perceived current weaknesses in subject matter discourage you from pursuing your passions and what you find interesting.
My best advice is twofold, and perhaps not totally related to the subject of your question (I have a tendency of going off track like this): 1. Find what you are interested in and pursue that. There is a lovely guide on how to do this from @rayne.rose. 2. Do NOT feel like you need to know what your professional career is going to be! You're not expected to even know what your college major is going to be -- you're not even expected to know what colleges you want to go to -- at this point in high school, never mind what your profession after graduating is going to be. I didn't even think about the professional world until I was a junior in college, and things worked out just fine. This is one area that it's really okay to be going into with uncertainty!
I don't recommend those career sites. I used to use them a lot but always got stuff related to dead bodies which... No. You can't expect a simple test online to encompass all you are and who you want to be. I recommend disregarding the results (for now) and taking a step back.
1.) Take a look at the things you naturally gravitate towards. This not only includes your extra-circulars but also stuff you did back in middle school, things you do outside of school or when you are alone. Write these down and try to analyze them. What did you like? What did you hate? Reflect on those experiences.
2.) On a separate sheet of paper, write down what you want to be doing. What goals do you have? What do you want to learn but can't for one reason or another? What's a project you deeply want to be working on? Once again, reflect on these.
3.) Talk to your guidance counselor if you can. Their entire job is meant to help people find careers and go to college. If you can't talk to them, turn to teachers and other adults.
This is what it'd look like if I did it:
Page 1:
Scrubs Program- Healthcare program. Hated suturing, but loved learning about how to approach patients.
Upward Bound- Loved it when we would go to museums or E-day at UK but hate it when it feels like we are pandering around.
Science Olympiad- Love learning about science-y topics
School Newspaper- Loved working by myself and being solely responsible working for myself
National History Day- Loved working by myself, exploring new places when we would to state/national, getting feedback
Podcast- Love working by myself, writing about education and history
Page 2:
MIT THINK- I want to do this and look more into bacteriophages
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards- Want to write. That's it
Foreign Languages
Film Studies
ISSCY- Social Sciences Research Competiton. One of the only ones of its kind
International Biology Olympaid
Community Service Project
As you can see, I have natural inclinations towards writing and the life sciences. I'm somewhat inclined to help others but want to be able to work by myself. Good careers for me would be stuff like public health or even Journalism. As long as it is a career where I have to constantly be learning and applying what I learn.
Remember that you don't have to entirely know what you want to do. Many colleges have it to where you have to take a few courses in stuff outside your major and that can take 1 to 2 years. During that time, you can receive career help and get aid in choosing a good major for you. Also, there will never be a career that fully encompasses your entire skill set. I'm never going to find a career where I write on current events, work in a lab and help people.
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
Community Guidelines
To keep this community safe and supportive:
- Be kind and respectful!
- Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
- Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!
Big fan of this answer!