Hey guys! I haven't been on in a while but I've always trusted aD for good advice. I'm having the biggest career choosing dilemma of my life. I'm going to be a senior in high school, and I feel that I need to choose my career now or else I'll be taking a bunch of classes in senior year that I won't need. I can't decide if I should be an electrical engineer or a doctor, general practitioner. I know it takes a lot of time to become a doctor and a lot of hard work. The work load doesn't concern me too much. And I know I have the passion for both of the fields. The main stipulation is the amount of time it takes for the degree and scholarship money. Ohio State is pretty generous to students, but I don't want to go there for medicine because it takes the full 8 years. If I do medicine it will definitely be a 6 year accelerated program not at OSU. And on top of that, this might sound weird, but money is really important to me. Doctor's are much better off than everyone else in the US. So, job security and lots of money while sacrificing my life for 8 years(with residency)? Is it worth it? Any ideas?
Why limit yourself. Plan for the longest degree first then go for the next one. I am a Trauma Nurse although I left the city and any hope of a hospital nearby. I am now studying to be an electrical engineer and producing renewable power is my passion. Except for vastly different math they are quite similar. It all revolves around systems and their upkeep. The body is just a big complex organic machine. GP, has a few drawbacks. A. You will not make as much money as a doc who specializes. This also means more schooling to specialize as well. Get used to treating colds and aches and old age. Many GP's suffer from burnout and over exposure to mundane issues. I couldn't be involved in medicine unless it was trauma oriented, too boring. Electrical engineers have a great potential to make money as well and this should not be overlooked. LOTS AND LOTS MORE MATH. Way more complex than microbiology and chemistry combined. It is best to LOVE LOVE LOVE your trig and calculus. Both will be study intensive. The math should be taken now at any rate. It will come in handy if you do decide to pursue more than one field someday. Get all the AP courses in you can. (You never know! I was in my thirties before I realized engineering was so COOL!) Good Luck
@Kinza ... I'm a career counselor in Philly (I use to be in medicine years ago in the dark ages LOL); first, I certainly don't claim to be able to function in that capacity here online! I would ask at school, at a local college or library if they have any "Career Assessment Tools" or career "Interest Inventories" you can take. (I'm told there are some freebies online but I've never looked at them). These can be remarkably accurate in pointing out the best options based on personality type (some on ability as well depending on the sort you take)...you seem confident of your abilities so I would stick strictly with the interest inventories. You are looking at two different careers that are suited to two entirely different personalities although nothing says your's can't be well suited to both though a good interest inventory will generally point out not the one to which you show greater inclination but also whether your temperment is better suited to the work of a GP or specialist which also, though related, are different occupations (good caring GPs are also hard to find). Related occupations can still be entirely different. I was a marine corps medic during the viet nam war. After the military, I was a paramedic (I probably have some things in common with kity66!) In those days, ambulance companies were owned by hospitals; we worked the floors when we weren't busy with the ambulances .... I LOVED being a paramedic .... I HATED nursing; I hated it so much that I left the medical field altogether. Both were medical fields but that was about it. Anyway, see if you can locate a way to take a career assessment or interest inventory .... they're quite remarkable.
wow. u guys have really diverse backgrounds. ill see if i can find any interest inventories. this process is getting even more complicated with the added specialization.
Hi Kinza (Long time) Well You may already know as i may have told you that my dad is a Doc (G.P) For him it took the six years and the internship on top of that. Even when you finish that and go and work in practices it may take you awhile to get yourself esstablished. I know my dad finished in 94-95 and did not really get established until he moved interstated about 5 years after he graduated and then when he moved it took him from 98 to basically 2001-03 to get really into the money. ATM he is priniting money as they say but thats because he has built his own reputation up and now when i go up and help him out he sees on average 30 to 45 patients a day and thats for him only. He has Dr sometimes working there he helps them to get started and they move on. It really depends on you and how much work you put into your future.
Well what a surprise. I took a couple of interest inventories and both doctor and engineer showed up. They were gaged as exactly equal interests. That adds to the confusion a little bit more. I guess the only way to is to figure out if I want to study that long or not
nuh uh...right? hmm...i didnt know. but i did look online, depending on the location, a lot were around 80K. I know doctors make more like 140K.
there was this guy on X facor (song stupid singing show) and he was a binman... and it turned out he made more than a doctor etc... just 'cos of the amount of money/ jewelry/ etc he found.
Well Kinza...the aptitude test proves it. You should do both. Gerry1 is right. The world needs more good GP's, they are very rare. Do that first, it takes more school. Best to get the long bits done first. Not to mention that a residency will be much easier when you are younger based on sleep deprivation issues alone! Payoff here is a little further out though. I know plenty of residents who were just barely making ends meet. The world also needs good engineers. There is a cry for renewable power. Both from an environmental and economic standpoint. Not to mention the possibilities of wireless electricity. The time it takes to become established and begin earning is possibly shorter that the GP route. AND...best of all...you can still be a garbage man too! Who knows, bin diving may be a great way to support yourself through your residency Good luck Kinza I know you will do well at whatever you pursue. You seem to be ahead of the game already. Are you taking advance placements? Sometimes that can help reduce the time it takes to get through your undergrad stuff.
well im glad u guys have faith in my talents as a garbage woman, engineer, and GP! lol. im really close to making the decision, any day now ill decide. i am taking some ap classes and doing some post-secondary work.
@kinza we cant decide your future we can only advise you.go to sleep 1 night and dream about the future and if u see yourself as a doctor or engineer chose from there.ultimately its your future and if 50people tell you to become a doctor and 100 tell you to become an engineer it doesnt matter.do watever will make you happy in the future.it may be a hard choice but its yours to make no one elses.
well its not a huge rush but i do need to decide. they are two different curriculums and the AP and post-secondary classes that i take will give me credits in college towards one of the two fields. like, ap bio, that's not going to help in electrical engineering. or microbiology or anatomy. i just dont want my time and effort to go to waste.
During your first year of college you will take mostly general courses and maybe introductory courses for your major. If you don't feel it in your heart what you want to do then, flip a coin and hope engineering wins. Just kidding. For engineering, do a job search on whatever state you will be searching for jobs and find out if jobs are available. I live in California and jobs are very competitive, specially Electrical Engineering. I can assure you, top engineers make above 100k, and I have no idea what doctors make. Regarding math, not too complex, everything is done using computers now. Hope this helps to confuse you. Good luck.
@PDogSpcl - Well! Not too hard indeed..Do you dream sign cosign?? Trig gives me a headache. Where were you when I was looking for the equations for induction generation capacitance determination!!!!!!!! The T1 does not help then...lol... OK, so you haven't lost your chance yet! Do you have any idea how to determine power factor in a motor that is being rotated over it's recomended RPM. It is a major factor in determining capacitance for induction. My motor co rates my 3phase 230/460 5/2.5A 60hz induction motor at .68. ALSO...I have been advised that .80 is an average motor power factor speed, but is it efficient or even wise to use an average as opposed to a real data representation??????????????????????????????????? Naval contractors do pretty OK. My pop is an electrical/combat sys engineer was career navy then career contractor I asked him but his expertise nowdays has nothing to do with power plant issues and he was not familiar/didn't remember it (he is like 74 now and asks me if they still use slide rules! NO!) Welcome to the AD.
@ kitty66 Oh man, I actually went straight to contractor and want to remain contractor. The bad thing about being a civillian with the Navy is that "sometimes" you can get caught up in doing paperwork and never do any actual work, what you would call configuration engineering. About your motor question, this definetly sounds like a power questions which is something I avoided along with communications. My emphasis was digital/analog electronics, like Computer Engineering but without all the software programming. But, I have associates that work for California Southern Edison (power company) and I will email them your question today and as soon as they give me an answer, I will post it here for you. Update: Send emails quoting your question, maybe someone can quickly tell you how to calculate the power factor. I also posted you myspace since most of my associates are into that also. I'm hoping you get a myspace comment on how to calculate a power factor. Do I dream sign cosign? Ha ha, I don't think so.
