continuing form where i left off ... btw this is going to be loooong.

when i was in highschool for quite some time i was convinced that i wanted to become a doctor, it drove me, and consumed me. it was like the only thing i wanted to work towards and it had a personal connection to me. ( im not saying that i only want to become a doctor to help people, who ever says that is BSing bigtime,) i wanted to become a doctor because that was the career that everyone thought of when you said science. it had good money in it. and thats what successful people do right, (yea i know thats just crap but thats how i felt). i also had a more personal connection to the career cus without the help of several docs and being in the hospital for a couple years i doubt id be here right now. thats why i wanted to beocme a doctor, both the prestige that was connected to the career and the the people who helped me and whom i idolized all those years.

... anyways when i got to grade 12 i suddenly lost that ambition and i was a bit lost, i knew i loved sicence, especially biology, but i didnt know if i really wanted to become a doctor and for the right reasons. and it wasn't like i had bad grades, in fact i did better that year than any other and my bio teach even said that if i wanted to i could become a doc, if i wanted too.

so after all that i was totally undecided as to what it was i wanted to do in the future, and even after first year i dont know what im going to do.

first year i took life sci 1 to see what areas i liked best. physics always interested me but i was never good at it, and chem no interest what so ever. but biology, bio is EPIC in my opinion anyways, its something i have always loved and is something im good at. i also really enjoyed psych, i always have, its one of those subjects that just makes you think and makes you want to look more into it.

so in the end i decided to major in biology and do a physio specialization. this way if i decide i want to go for med i still can, and if i decide that maybe i want to do research or something else than the specialization will really help me set my self up for that. i wanted to do a psych minor but the specialization doesnt have too much room for minors, but ill still take as many psych courses as i can and i might go 5th year to finish off the minor.. well see.

in the end, i went form being totally convinced of what i wanted to do, to being totally lost about what i see myeself doing in the future. but... i dont mind, i like it the way it is now, taking what i love and not trying to worry about what i can do with it, i figure that out when i get there.

Originally Posted by yaroslav64

I'm sorry my parents are very old-fashioned, I tried to convince them you can get a job with any university degree but they werent having it. I'm not saying those degrees are worthless, far from I think they're very interesting I'm just recounting what my parents said. I thought I made that clear by that last statement sorry. Again, that's my parents opinion not mine.

You still don't see where you went wrong.

I started out my first two years at mac in science (Biology). It was OKAY but, I never saw a future for myself in it. At times, I was frustrated in the perspective from which things were taught. Also, though I made a few awesome friends in my previous program, I didn't really relate with the majority of students I met in my faculty. I was more committed to other areas. In particular, I was drawn to my electives in the social sciences and the humanities in my academic life as well as in my non-academic life. In the middle of term 1 of third year, (last year), it finally hit me that I was in the wrong program and faculty and so I switched into sociology and indigenous studies. That year, I also became really interested in mac social work's AoP perspective and that is what got me interested in the social work field. I wrote the SWAT test last March and I got accepted into the BSW/BA program in June. Now, I have 3 majors and I do have to do one more extra year but that's fine with me. I am not sure how I will like Social Work but I am really excited to find out.

Hmm, my cousin just graduated Electrical Engineering and had to move to Alberta to find a job. You seem to think employers are throwing jobs at engineering undergraduates, you are in for a surprise in 4 years time.

Originally Posted by DutchRudder

Hmm, my cousin just graduated Electrical Engineering and had to move to Alberta to find a job. You seem to think employers are throwing jobs at engineering undergraduates, you are in for a surprise in 4 years time.

Several electrical engineering jobs in Ontario >_> Wonderland is just one of them for example.

Well engineering is a professional degree like nursing, medicine, law so its still a safer choice than any non-professional degree. And there are most definitely engineering jobs in Ontario if you're not overly picky. If you do a master's in engineering or a MBA you are pretty much set. My friend did her bachelor's and master's in engineering and the very first job she landed paid $110 k !

I thought commerce would be a program that I could really enjoy and get some real life experience from and so far after my first year required courses it seems to be standing true to my expectations.

Originally Posted by Galleria

Well engineering is a professional degree like nursing, medicine, law so its still a safer choice than any non-professional degree. And there are most definitely engineering jobs in Ontario if you're not overly picky. If you do a master's in engineering or a MBA you are pretty much set. My friend did her bachelor's and master's in engineering and the very first job she landed paid $110 k !

Every program can be professional depending on how you use it, especially newer programs like Multimedia. A lot of students are being hired every year for multimedia-esque jobs such as Web Design, Digital Design, Concept Art, Videogame Design, etc.

In high school I didn't really have strong interest in one particular subject but engineering seemed like the right way to go when I was applying for University. I mean I didn't take apart every electronic device in my house and resemble it like you usually hear but I just had a gut feeling that engineering was for me.

Reason I choose McMaster first and foremost is because of how accessible it is for me since I live in Hamilton already and I thought about all the money I'd save living at home (big regret btw now that I look back and am in my last year!). Anyways, the other reason I choose McMaster's engineering program was because first year is general. You get a taste of everything. Like I said already I really didn't have a strong interest in anything so this was great in my mind.

After first year, which I struggled through I still didn't have an exact idea of what stream to choose. Then I heard about Mechatronics in an info session. As soon as I heard it was about robotics something clicked and I felt like this was something I could get into. Also knowing that its a multi-disciplinary stream helped too since I don't really want to specialize in anything. I like learning about lots of different things. Now that I'm in my final year I'm still now 100% sure if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life but right now I fell like I've made the right choice in choosing Mechatronics engineering.

tl;dr In Mechatronics cause it's awesome.

@OP Awesome idea for a thread! Really interesting to read some of these...

Physiology.

.... nothing witty, its just so weird that I thought I'd throw it out there. I know ONE person in my program, and I only casually talk with her.

McMaster because I refused to share a room with some random person/friend (I LIKE my privacy thank you) and all the other places were too far to justify going for UG (U of T, Queens) or too like high school (UTM) or too scary/place area/not as good/nightmare fuel for parents (York).

During school, I was never attracted to classes with one right answer (math, science). While I was competent in them (typically achieved 80s), I never bought into the idea that such a complex idea could be solved by one course of action. While I do understand that there are multiple ways to solve mathematic/scientific problems, I find it difficult to believe that there is only one correct outcome. Because of this, I was always attracted to History, English, and Politics courses where I could make the answer "mine", for lack of a better word. Therefore, coming out of high school, I was 100% set on getting a degree in History, so that I could make this mind blowing thesis that connected the events of hundreds of years into one simplified argument. After applying and being accepted to Queen's, Western, and McMaster, I decided to choose Mac because of it's campus and the general positive responses I had heard from former and current McMaster students, as well as a combination of other factors revolving around the other schools. After about 2 and 1/2 weeks of being here, however, I decided that I wasn't going to major in History because I found that the courses weren't exactly what I expected them to be. After a lot of serious contemplation, I decided to go with English and CSCT because I genuinely like what I am studying. My initial plan to major in History and minor in English and attend Teacher's College has now evolved into a Double Major in English and CSCT with a minor in History, along with a further plan to attend Graduate School and (hopefully/eventually) gain my PHD and become a Prof. While my ultimate goal to teach people is still in tact, my teaching level, amount of schooling, and subject discipline has changed. While I could have easily geared myself towards a Business-style program (I'm fascinated by marketing, hence the CSCT aspect of my degree), I decided to choose a subject area that interests me. It may take a lot more schooling and, to be honest, some ridicule, but I honestly believe that I will end up having just as good of a job as an Engineer or a Business student hopes to end up with and, if I don't, well at least I am happy with what I chose to be the rest of my life.

Originally Posted by J. Dorey

During school, I was never attracted to classes with one right answer (math, science). While I was competent in them (typically achieved 80s), I never bought into the idea that such a complex idea could be solved by one course of action. While I do understand that there are multiple ways to solve mathematic/scientific problems, I find it difficult to believe that there is only one correct outcome. Because of this, I was always attracted to History, English, and Politics courses where I could make the answer "mine", for lack of a better word. Therefore, coming out of high school, I was 100% set on getting a degree in History, so that I could make this mind blowing thesis that connected the events of hundreds of years into one simplified argument. After applying and being accepted to Queen's, Western, and McMaster, I decided to choose Mac because of it's campus and the general positive responses I had heard from former and current McMaster students, as well as a combination of other factors revolving around the other schools. After about 2 and 1/2 weeks of being here, however, I decided that I wasn't going to major in History because I found that the courses weren't exactly what I expected them to be. After a lot of serious contemplation, I decided to go with English and CSCT because I genuinely like what I am studying. My initial plan to major in History and minor in English and attend Teacher's College has now evolved into a Double Major in English and CSCT with a minor in History, along with a further plan to attend Graduate School and (hopefully/eventually) gain my PHD and become a Prof. While my ultimate goal to teach people is still in tact, my teaching level, amount of schooling, and subject discipline has changed. While I could have easily geared myself towards a Business-style program (I'm fascinated by marketing, hence the CSCT aspect of my degree), I decided to choose a subject area that interests me. It may take a lot more schooling and, to be honest, some ridicule, but I honestly believe that I will end up having just as good of a job as an Engineer or a Business student hopes to end up with and, if I don't, well at least I am happy with what I chose to be the rest of my life.

this takes courage. tyrant likes this

Originally Posted by tyrant

this takes courage. tyrant likes this

Why didn't you hit like on his post then? O_O

The stories in this thread are surprisingly interesting (some of them anyway).

Anyway, I went into Engineering because well, everyone back in high school gave off the impression that "if you're good at math and science, you go into engineering". So I rolled with that idea, didn't give it a second thought, and all my applications were for engineering. Eventually decided I wanted to go to Mac after visiting campuses, since it just felt right; I can't really explain it, but I walked on campus and felt relatively comfortable, even though I was a lowly 12th-grader scared for the future and all that fun stuff.

As soon as WW rolled around, it was exciting to be here, but I started having second thoughts already. I overheard one of my reps talking about how he switched out of his program after 3 years of it, because he wasn't interested in it anymore. So, I asked him about how feasible switching out even is, because I'd never heard of such a thing. His response was something along the lines of "I went in there and said I didn't want to be in biochem anymore because I'm bored of it, and they said ok, we'll switch you out". Done. I settled on finishing first year, giving eng a shot before writing it off, since it's a general first year and all.

Time to specialize came around, and the only one that really interested me was Materials. I went to the info session, and the jobs people were talking about weren't that interesting to me (except the girl who said pyrometallurgy, and explained it as "IT'S METAL WITH FIRE"). I knew I liked chemistry, so it was Materials or Chemical, and both weren't interesting me at this point. Marks came in and I had to retake the electrophysics course over the summer, so I had the "Eureka" moment where I realized that I shouldn't be struggling to take something I'm not interested in, and should at the very least struggle in something I AM interested in.

So after a series of talks with academic advisors and lots of summer school later, I'm going into Honours Chem. With a bit of luck, I'll specialize in advanced materials (cause I love the subject material, just not the job options with the eng degree), but it seems all the materials courses are conflicting with the chem ones. I'm not a child prodigy or anything at chemistry, but I'm interested enough to study it and learn why I got things wrong, wrong. I'm also not necessarily sure what job I'm going to get coming out of it, but I figure if I'm interested in it, I'll get something eventually. And at the very least, I can dream about doing forensics work (even though it'll never happen).

Originally Posted by tyrant

this takes courage. tyrant likes this

Why thank you!