I remember being completely overwhelmed in junior high school when the teacher announced we had to do a career focus project and pick careers we were interested in.
Even at that young of an age I was constantly taking those personality tests trying to figure out what I might enjoy.
And now, those pesky teachers were pushing us to think about how we wanted to get paid to do what we enjoyed!?
I felt like I was all over the board, agreeable to a lot of things, unable to pick just one and the tests never helped narrow it down for me.
I knew I loved traveling and I would always joke with my friends that one day I would go to the moon and bring them back moon rocks. I was under the impression that astronauts traveled a lot and they got to go to the most extreme places, to outer space! I chose to do my high school career report on astronauts and that’s when I found out they only spend 1% of their career up there, if that!
Well that crossed itself off the list for me right then and there — no traveling to the moon?! I quit!
When the time came senior year of high school to start thinking about University and Majors, I remembered my little astronaut dream and went on NASA’s website to look up what degrees they got. I saw a lot of science and math and physics.
When the time came to declare a major at the University of Washington, I proudly marched in to the office and said I am getting a double degree in Biology AND Geology.
At this point in time I felt I liked them both equally.
Getting a double degree would be tricky credit-wise, as I would eventually go over 260 and have to petition for staying at school past four years. Okay so a little paperwork would get in the way, no big deal.
The first year I had to take all of the foundational chemistry and mathematics courses before I could start my second year in biology and geology. In my second year, during one of the biology classes, we were learning about plant growth at the cellular level and my heart started beating faster as I felt incredibly giddy learning about life. It became obvious that what I felt my heart doing is what we call Passion and it was clear I wanted biology to be the path I traveled.
So I dropped Geology to a minor (at that time it was called Earth & Space Sciences) and carried on with the Biology degree.
Phew, so I’ve narrowed it down! Biology. That is what I will do.
But wait!? Even then they want you to specify what type of Biology degree to get:
- B.S. General Biology
- B.S. Ecology, Evolution, & Conservation Biology
- B.S. Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
- B.S. Physiology
- B.S. Plant Biology
The decision paralysis set in as I floundered to figure out which sub-type to choose! All of them?! Not possible.
A little voice in my head started chiming in that it would look bad to go with the general category and that I should make a decision and pick a specialty.
But I didn’t want to choose.
I liked them all: plants, physiology, conservation…
I was so terrified of pigeon holing myself, or choosing the wrong one, that I picked the General Biology degree. There was this fear that it would be looked down upon in the working world. “Look at this Generalist!” “Can’t even pick a type of Biology.” “She’s no good!”
But during my 10 years out of college I have found this is an absolute myth.
The fear they instill in you about making sure to pick the right degree is paralyzing to those of us who buy in to the false message of pigeon holing.
This day and age its much easier to hop around or switch if something is not right for you. Heck, you can even become an entrepreneur and do your own thing!
I’ve never regretted or had any issues with having completed my B.S. in General Biology. One phrase Ive heard numerous of times from professors, family, and friends haunts me to this day is: Don’t be a “Jack of all trades, master of none“.
But why is that a bad thing? Are they mutually exclusive?
In the back of my mind I’ve always wondered why you couldn’t be competent with many skills AND find something to be an outstanding master in.
If I look back on my working life I’d say that just because I’ve been a Jack weaving a seemingly random path picking up Trades in the theme of science, doesn’t mean that some day I can’t be a Master of SOME.
Share this:
by 
