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Asked by anon-266983 to Suzan on 19 Nov 2020.
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Suzan Kors answered on 19 Nov 2020:
I always wanted to become a primary school teacher! I said this to everyone since I was 4 years old till I was 18 and had to choose what I wanted to study. I have always liked to help people, I helped my brother a lot during his school time.
So that’s what I did – I studied at the university to learn how to become a good teacher and once a week I went to a school to really teach students, to practice. That’s when I realised that this job was not for me (and I am glad that there are many people who do love this amazing job). I also realised that I missed biology a lot (I love to learn how the human body works – and what can go wrong). So after one year, I looked for all possible studies that included some biology and that’s how I discovered Biomedical Sciences, which I started to study (in Amsterdam).
But still, at that time I didn’t see myself as a scientist. I learned that I like doing experiments during the practicals in the teaching lab, but mainly during several internships in real laboratories: working on your own project, discovering things no one knows! Now I love what I am doing and I think switching studies is the best decision I have made.
So it is not always easy to know what you want to study and what kind of job you want to do. It can take some time and is maybe not always as what you expected. I learned a lot from everything and wouldn’t have done it in another way.
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Comments
Katie commented on :
I never really knew what I wanted to be when I was in high school (and I still don’t know exactly where I will end up!). In primary school I wanted to be various things from a safari vet to an author but when it came to seriously considering jobs I had no idea. I just went to study what I thought was interesting and hoped it would help me find a job I like. During my undergraduate degree I spent a year working in a research lab which was really interesting and helped me understand what it would be like to do a PhD. After I finished university I didn’t go straight to my PhD but tried an office job with the charity Cancer Research UK. I really loved it there but started to miss being fully involved in doing science so decided to go back to the lab to do a PhD which is where I am now and I’m really excited to get stuck into my own research about stem cells. I like the variety in being a scientist -you get to do lots of different things with your day and find out exciting things which you may be the first to discover.
It’s really important to know that you absolutely can change your mind and try different things like Suzan and I have. It’s ok not to know what you want to do -many adults still have no idea!
Romain commented on :
No! It can happened to me. Originally, I wanted to be an engineer because I really liked to tinker with things but I realised that, as a scientist, I could be an engineer AND study lots of things at the same time! So it appeared to me like it would be a more fun way to spend my days at work !
But, in general, finding a career is very difficult and often we change our mind over time, because we see opportunities or because of personal reasons. Or simply because it turns out that the work is not what we expected it to be when we start it!
And it’s fine, but it’s then useful to think about a few things rather than one !
Berengere commented on :
As a child I wanted to become Indiana Jones (or at least an archeologist / explorer), but then I decided I wanted to become a vet or a film maker! (I would still like to be a film maker, to be honest).
In reality, around 17/18 I had no idea what I wanted to do as a job, I just knew I was interested in Sciences and in particular biology, so I decided to go to University to study that. In the end, becoming a scientist just sort of happened to me! It started just because I was curious about science, and I just… kept on doing more science!