Does anyone else feel really pressured into certain career paths? (1 Viewer)

[fizzbylightning]

The brilliant thing with being a high school leaver is that you are in the position to make your own choices. It's like a fresh start. Make the most of that opportunity. I get that some of you might feel obliged to pay back the efforts of your parents and give them back something that they can be proud of but at the end of the day I believe both parties (yourself and your parents) will be happy for you making the right decision for YOURSELF. If you really think about it, it makes no sense to let others make YOUR important decisions. Most/all people on this thread are urging and encouraging you to pursue YOUR dream and what YOU see yourself thriving and being successful in. This comes from our experiences and talking to our friends so what we're saying must mean something. It's okay to make drastic decisions - they beget greatness

 

[RishBonjour99]

Lol this is relevent

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2320638

As someone mentioned above, always go with what you WANT to do first. It was a bad choice? Don't like it as much as you thought you would? Not an issue, transfer into anything you want (even med, there is heaps of grad schools and most of your competition isn't really going to be creme de la crop for grad openings).
Or you can do what a couple of my mates did, just do well in UMAT, get 1 or 2 med offers from nsw, show it to your parents so they can tell their ethnic friends, and just decline and do what you want.

I'm from an asian background with mainly of doctors/engineers in the family so its like general progression to either be a doctor or an engineer (at least what my mum expects, dad is more liberal because he's academic). Like my grandmother literally said 'why are you doing law, its for liars' haha.


P.S. I'm also going to apply for the DFA when I graduate (as a back up). From what I've heard, their recruitment is pretty stupid. They have a thing for arts students which is bullshit.

 

[ShaeMarieMcLaughlin]

I feel you, man, with the law thing (my dad's a cop, so anytime I even mention law as a possibility, it's the 'lawyers are scum' thing). My parents didn't even finish high school, but their logic goes smart/common sense/straight a's = medicine.

 

[RishBonjour99]

I feel you, man, with the law thing (my dad's a cop, so anytime I even mention law as a possibility, it's the 'lawyers are scum' thing). My parents didn't even finish high school, but their logic goes smart/common sense/straight a's = medicine.

Haha heaps of lawyers are pompous dicks though. I remember just last year in an office i was working in, a lawyer came in and 15 mins later one of our staff left crying . But dat suit.

Ultimately, do what you like. Or whatever that will get you your ideal career.

 

[isildurrrr1]

I feel you, man, with the law thing (my dad's a cop, so anytime I even mention law as a possibility, it's the 'lawyers are scum' thing). My parents didn't even finish high school, but their logic goes smart/common sense/straight a's = medicine.

i think criminal defense is hugely stigmitized due to misconception of what they do. There's a reason everyone has a right to an attorney.

 

[BlugyBlug]

Lol this is relevent

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2320638

As someone mentioned above, always go with what you WANT to do first. It was a bad choice? Don't like it as much as you thought you would? Not an issue, transfer into anything you want (even med, there is heaps of grad schools and most of your competition isn't really going to be creme de la crop for grad openings).
Or you can do what a couple of my mates did, just do well in UMAT, get 1 or 2 med offers from nsw, show it to your parents so they can tell their ethnic friends, and just decline and do what you want.

I'm from an asian background with mainly of doctors/engineers in the family so its like general progression to either be a doctor or an engineer (at least what my mum expects, dad is more liberal because he's academic). Like my grandmother literally said 'why are you doing law, its for liars' haha.


P.S. I'm also going to apply for the DFA when I graduate (as a back up). From what I've heard, their recruitment is pretty stupid. They have a thing for arts students which is bullshit.

Lol man..that whirlpool thread was pretty depressing, poor guy.

I'm asian and what I hate the most about asian culture is this priority for social status and money. Sure, money is nice - but I've read a study where a persons day-to-day happiness increases up to about ~80k/yr. Above that point, income has very little affect on happiness and satisfaction.

In my opinion this culture is very toxic, especially considering that today's youth will be getting hundreds of thousands of HECS debt slapped upon them. Choosing the wrong career, or one you don't like, is so much worse because there's no 'refund'. You can't just trade in your UNSW degree for $100k 10 years down the track. You're pretty much stuck with your decision, assuming that it was actually your decision and not your parent's decision.

We're forced to make decisions with decade long ramifications, yet 2 months ago many of us had to ask to go to the bathroom and weren't allowed to have even 1 shot of whiskey. When a pushy, expectant culture is added ontop of our indecision/limited life experience, its no wonder most teenagers feel trapped. I count myself lucky because my passion just happens to be 'socially acceptable' so I didn't really get to experience the dilemma that so many face (unlike a lot of other people who I've witnessed).

This was not the case 2 decades ago, because 1. University was exponentially cheaper and 2. A university degree wasn't essentially mandatory.

back on topic: everyone else in this thread is correct.

 

[tofusenpai]

Kinda I have 4 siblings (3 sister's and 1 brother)

My oldest sister is a nurse buts she's married now and left not in good terms with my parents.My second sister was a dentist but because she married a minister so she quit.My third sister works in retail only.My brother is autistic so yea.. so my siblings didn't pursuit into uni they just did tafe and so there is pressure on me to do really well and get a good job.My parents really want me to go to uni.I originally wanted to be a fashion designer or photographer but my mum did not support it much she said I could do it as a hobby and also teaching but now I want a job with a really good pay that I'd like that'll help my family so recently I got into medicine so I was taking of becoming a paediatrician or either a newsreporter. I take into consideration a good paying job but something I'll like as well.My parents are very supportive on my career options of journalism and medicine

 

[Schmeag]

Career expectations and reality rarely add up. What you do is focused on what kind of person you are and how flexible you are prepared to be. By my final year, I never really had a strong inclination towards any field, so my approach was to rule out career fields.

As my parents were somewhat keen on medicine for job security, I took the UMAT on advice from my careers counsellor - the rationale was to treat it as a personal aptitude test for medicine; I performed relatively well and was unable to rule out medicine as an option. I decided that I was interested in Arts/Law, majoring in International Relations. My idea of Arts/Law and the possible career choices came from some reading, the content of my secondary school subjects (and what I enjoyed), and mostly my own imagination. My final year mark was decent, but below expected. Nevertheless, I was offered both courses across two states and ultimately, a combination of parental pressure and lack of a strong inclination swayed me towards medicine.

Again, I performed relatively well, but as in school was not among the brightest or best. As the years progressed, others dropped out due to exhaustion or unmet expectations but I did not consider quitting. I enjoyed myself and made the most of what I had. Now I work in the field and enjoy what I do - it is definitely not what I would have expected I would be doing, but I have adapted to my situation and I am content to contribute to society in my role (my profession can complain a lot, sometimes).

My friends from Year 12 did a number of degrees - some continue to study even now. My lawyer friends (who I abandoned when I chose medicine) remain in a variety of positions including unemployed or working for the government or a large corporation, with various degrees of satisfaction or lack thereof. My feeling is that I may have been happy to do law, but ultimately I am also happy with where I am now.

I would not counsel against medicine unless you dislike biology and basic sciences. I would tell you to use the UMAT as an aptitude test for how good a fit you would be for medicine. Who knows, you might just be a good fit for the job and not even realise it. The challenge is knowing if the job is a good fit for you and that comes a lot later. Best of luck.

 

[walking_travesty]

My parents...really want me to be a doctor. Part of me wants to study medicine too - a part of that genuinely wants to help and another part just wants to prove that she can do medicine.

Anyone else feel this way?

HECK YEAH ohmygod. My dad's side of the family are very business-oriented people who prize academia, and my mum's side are all pure academics. My entire family is literally filled with doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants... and one cousin who works in H&R (who married an actuary lols). I always feel super pressured to do Medicine (good god especially medicine) or Law or basically any of the careers listed above but mainly medicine, but what I really want to do does not fit with what my parents have in mind.

For instance, I feel that deep, deep down, I'm honestly not capable of becoming a doctor. And plus, I don't want to. Like I honestly love people and I need to work with people and gain energy from being around people but medicine just isn't for me. Also I hate blood. And I would want to specialise if I went into Med anyways, which is just a major lol for me. What I really want to go into is teaching, but my parents are the type of people who think teaching is a career for people who tried and failed in life and are like "lol I can always do teaching." But it's what I really want to do. And in the end, if I end up being super happy and loving my job (which is the most important thing since it's like, my life not theirs,) they can't complain since which parent wouldn't want their kid to be happy.

Also, I've heard with Med that you need to be really into it to stay in the course and follow through till the end. The subjects are hard, the competition is super tough, the exams are shit and it's also a really long road. To really tough it out and become a doctor in the end you need to just love it and want it so much, and need to be major dedicated. But if it's something that you like the idea of, but that you're not really passionate about, don't do it. I'm the same - the idea of being a doctor and knowing that kinda stuff is so cool, but deep down I'm not ready for that stuff and would prefer to do something else =]

TBH I'm glad someone else feels the same way XD Also lols TL;DR XD

 

[RishBonjour99]

HECK YEAH ohmygod. My dad's side of the family are very business-oriented people who prize academia, and my mum's side are all pure academics. My entire family is literally filled with doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants... and one cousin who works in H&R (who married an actuary lols). I always feel super pressured to do Medicine (good god especially medicine) or Law or basically any of the careers listed above but mainly medicine, but what I really want to do does not fit with what my parents have in mind.

For instance, I feel that deep, deep down, I'm honestly not capable of becoming a doctor. And plus, I don't want to. Like I honestly love people and I need to work with people and gain energy from being around people but medicine just isn't for me. Also I hate blood. And I would want to specialise if I went into Med anyways, which is just a major lol for me. What I really want to go into is teaching, but my parents are the type of people who think teaching is a career for people who tried and failed in life and are like "lol I can always do teaching." But it's what I really want to do. And in the end, if I end up being super happy and loving my job (which is the most important thing since it's like, my life not theirs,) they can't complain since which parent wouldn't want their kid to be happy.

Also, I've heard with Med that you need to be really into it to stay in the course and follow through till the end. The subjects are hard, the competition is super tough, the exams are shit and it's also a really long road. To really tough it out and become a doctor in the end you need to just love it and want it so much, and need to be major dedicated. But if it's something that you like the idea of, but that you're not really passionate about, don't do it. I'm the same - the idea of being a doctor and knowing that kinda stuff is so cool, but deep down I'm not ready for that stuff and would prefer to do something else =]

TBH I'm glad someone else feels the same way XD Also lols TL;DR XD

How do you know you are "ready to be a doctor" or do medicine? I know several people who did 0 Science subjects in the hsc and are smashing med atm. You don't know until you try.