#Lifes aha moments how to#

In many ways, I still feel undeclared in the sense that I don’t know exactly what it is that I am doing or going to do. Deciding on something like this is tough, but by being undeclared you are making a commitment to explore your options and truly make an informed decision for yourself. My advice would be to take your time in picking on your major, and keep in mind that it will not define the rest of your life. I am comforted in knowing there are endless possibilities, and am coming to terms with my inability to plan out the rest of my life from now on. Even though I have finally picked a major and even decided on a career path I would like to pursue, I know there are many big decisions yet to come. For example, where to go to medical school, what to specialize in, where I would like to work, etc. Looking down the line, there are still many decisions to make. This experience has given me the drive to apply to medical school and put in the extra time it takes to become a physician. I enjoyed getting to know the patients, and aspired to one day have to knowledge to help them the way that the doctor could. I truly loved every day of work, and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. In addition, I was given the opportunity to observe procedures, including live births and C-sections.

#Lifes aha moments how to#

There I learned how to take histories, take vitals, and draw blood. I was working as a medical assistant at Boston Healthcare for Women, an OBGYN office associated with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. It wasn’t really until my 2 nd co-op that I had a true “aha” moment. While the work the doctors did was exciting, the difficulty in getting into medical school and the additional years of school made me unsure if I wanted to commit to that path. During my time there, I connected with the doctors and felt that becoming a physician was probably the right path for me.

I was a clinical research assistant for the rheumatology division, and got a great look into what it was like to work in a hospital. I was all for pushing off my decision, and confident in my choice to not yet decide.įast-forwarding a little bit to my co-ops, used my first at Tufts Medical Center to ensure that medicine was really the right path for me. Theoretically, this gave me more time to figure out where in healthcare I truly fit before committing to anything. I figured that my biology degree would give me a good foundation and provide the appropriate coursework to pursue virtually any graduate degree in the health field. I was all of a sudden unsure of my decision to pursue nursing, and felt like I had fallen right back to where I started.Īfter talking to an undeclared advisor, I came to the conclusion that health was still the right field for me, but that I would instead major in biology. Unfortunately, when on the floor, something just didn’t feel right. While I did like what she was doing, I didn’t know if I could see myself doing that for the rest of my life. While home, I volunteered in a hospital and got the chance to shadow a nurse. However, as you can probably guess, I was very wrong. I figured I would become a nurse and that would be it. I felt accomplished and relieved, thinking that I had now made my last big major/career decision of my life. I went into that summer happy with my decision. After talking to staff and professionals in the field, I decided on nursing at the end of my freshman year. I focused my search to biology (pre-med track), physical therapy, and nursing.

The question still remained: what would that be. After attending virtually every event the undeclared program put on, I tentatively decided on pursuing something in the health field. That’s why once I got to Northeastern, I was relieved to find out that there were people to help me explore and talk through my indecision.ĭuring my first year, I considered myself “very undeclared.” I was interested in everything from graphic design, to business, to engineering, to computer science, to health. Basically the only thing I crossed off from my list was the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, which still left me with a lot of options. I didn’t think I knew enough to make an informed decision, and therefore didn’t want to make one.

Being the indecisive, over-analytical person that I am, the thought of deciding on a major before coming to college was daunting. I came to college thinking that my major would decide the rest of my adult life.