If one day you decided to start all over, what would you study and why?

[yinyangwriter]

I like both the original OP and UnlikelyGrad's questions too so...

If I wasn't majoring in the life sciences (microbiology, biology, environmental science & engineering, geobiology and planetary science, oceanography, etc.) then I would consider getting a masters in Asian studies since I've been studying Mandarin Chinese anyway. I've also always wanted to study art and learn how to draw properly. But I've already changed fields, from mathematics(undergrad) to microbiology(grad).

Careers:

International Rock Star

Business Consultant who travels around the world advising companies on how to "do it better"

Steve Jobs (What, that isn't a career?)

[Babbling Dweeb]

I love this question for two reasons:

1) I often ask friends a similar question (if you could do anything with your life what would it be?). How many people do we know that feel lost in their career or in life? Many...

2) I completely changed my track more than once, but none ever so serious as the most recent change...BUT, I would not be the person I am today if I had just started in this direction from the beginning.

I don't want to sound like a cheesy greeting card, but I really believe life AND education are about the journey. There is a really awesome computer algorithm often taught in basic programming classes and the analogy is often used in psychology as well, it goes something like this:

Imagine yourself in a valley surrounded by hills that are covered in fog. Your goal is to climb to the highest point, but you can only move up, you can never climb down. How do you reach the highest peak?

There isn't a "reasonable" answer other than to suggest you teleport around the grid at random until you calculate the highest point...but that's not the point. The point is to say that once you climb so far up one hill, it's a scary and difficult thing to try again. The hill is now familiar.

(the long rambling story about me)

From a young age it was clear that I loved to tinker with things and see how they worked, but I also loved building things...I had a drafting set when I was 8..blah blah blah. So I floated between mechanical engineering and architecture...worked as a drafting intern at 16 and 17. Then I switched to computers (networking/security) and stayed working in that field for the next 12 years. As an undergrad I was in either the computer science program or business computer program...and I was bored. I loved the business side, theory and basically any non-computer class because I felt like I was doing something. blah blah blah...I took 4 years off from school, continued working...blah blah blah.

I went back to school during the summer of 2005 while still working full time in the computer industry and after retaking classes and adding in new one and taking on piles of homework, I started over and rebuilt both my academic and my career path. In December I graduated with one one of my professors liked to call a "schizophrenic" combination:

BS Economics, BS Human Resource Management, minor International Management and minor in Management Information Systems.

What the heck am I going to do with that? I'm interested in MA International Affairs and MA Economics (focus in development) because I want to take everything that I learned to help rebuild developing countries, infrastructure, maybe US municipalities and everything in between. I realized that it wasn't so much that I was good in any one subject, my only talent was in problem solving. I just learned how to apply it to engineering, computers, business, etc...I just needed to know "the syntax" to talk to the professionals in any one field and tell them how to come up with a solution.

So I figured out that if I wanted to be happy and not feel lost, I just needed to learn just enough about almost everything I could handle. All that's left at that point is to find people who were stuck with something...and help them get unstuck.

[psych21]

Oh God... as much as I LOVE my field and believe I was BORN to do it (Clinical/Counseling Psych), there are so many other things I would love to do as well... interestingly, they all involve advanced studies...here are some:

* MD... psychiatry or neurology (or both!)

* Comparative Literature PhD: getting paid to read/analyze stuff from all over the world! are you kidding me!! lovely!!!

* Philosophy PhD as it was one of my first loves. My high school philosophy teacher really changed my life.

* Mathematics PhD: I don't get math. Never have. Fell in love with it during my last years of college. Now I think I would love to "get" every reasoning behind every proof, etc. It's the ultimate problem solving. I'm doing a stats class at a masters level (for math MA students) and it kicks my behind every day, but I love it when that moment comes when it "clicks" and I see the big picture.

* Chemistry PhD (inorganic, preferably - i hate carbon)

* College Counselor for HS kids

* Interpreter at the UN (I speak 8 languages and only use 2 on a regular basis - would love to do something else with them!)

* Travel agent. I'll take you wherever you want to go, find a reasonable price for it, and have a lot of fun.

[ootg]

Did Chemistry right up to grad level. Left it behind to do an MBA, and now hoping to do a PhD in Marketing (although I don't seem to be getting anywhere with applications).

Would I have wanted to do my PhD in Marketing from the start? I doubt so. It has been a slow but continual evolution of myself...

[KAMALAGRAD]

I'm happy with my current field of journalism. However, as an undergrad I double majored in journalism and film. For those of you unfamiliar with film studies, on the theory end it can be useful, but only if you try to pursue it beyond just undergrad. That being said, I think I'd combine journalism with criminology, if I were to do it all over again.

[RNadine21]

I'm so happy with my career path. But I also enjoy history and anthropology. I'm the fool that watches the History Channel for hours.

Although then I'd have to be less lazy and read all the time. For whatever reading isn't fun when it's an assignment (however, historical fiction is my favorite genre).

Ooo, or art. I often wish I had the time/flexibility in undergrad to continue taking art classes.

LOL, typical Gemini here, can't make up my mind.

[IggAb]

I'm about to start my PhD in molecular biology (which I love), but if I could do it all over again... these are the "could-have been" careers I sometimes fantasize about:

-computer programmer

-particle physicist

-astronaut

-traveling writer

-national geographic photographer

-elementary school teacher

.... I know, an eclectic mix!

[Jae B.]

I love my chosen career path. But if I were starting over again, I'd give biology a chance.

Also, I would finish my art history A.A. degree, finish my minor in public policy, and I'd speak Spanish proficiently by now.

I guess there's still time for me to learn parkour.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Jae B.

[gsams]

I am getting a BA in poli sci.

I love what I am doing, but would not refuse a full ride to get a degree in nuclear engineering. It is what I really, really wanted to do in high school. My mind really adores science and I am naturally talented at it. However, I love poli sci an the social aspects that come with it too much to give it up. Nuclear engineering is not as social.

[fadeindreams]

I wouldn't change my graduate path one bit. Public policy, particularly international policy, is fascinating to me.

I would, however, certainly change my undergraduate degree from history to something more aligned with my current interests. I went into history to be a teacher. If I were to choose again, knowing my career aspirations now, I would have double majored in international relations and economics.

I don't think I'll go on from my MPP/MPA to a Ph.D. Though if I did I am already certain it would still be in public policy.

[zachidacki]

I'll be starting a MSW program in the fall with a concentration in social and economic development. One of my interests is housing, so if I had to start over I think I would go into industrial design. It would be a cool way to tackle housing issues in a creative, non-trad route. Part of me doesn't think I'm creative enough to do it, and that challenge is part of the appeal. I used to dance and learned quickly from outside forces that the arts is a hard place to make it, so I threw the artistic ambitions out. No matter how many classes you take, it's never the same. A return would be nice, though!