Ponderponderponder...
Jul. 11th, 2005 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ruI came to a somewhat sobering realization recently. Namely, that this is my last summer that actually qualifies as a 'school summer'. Wherein I have time off and I don't have any actual committments. Okay, that probably didn't make much sense. Maybe put in a better way, this is most likely the last summer where I'm not permanently tied to anything. After all, I'm going into my senior year of college, and after that is graduation, but after that, what then?
Seeing as it's my last year of school and all, and I have some time this summer, I realized I probably need to start getting a plan together as far as what I'm going to do once I graduate.
I'm kinda a little stuck in that regards. I guess you could say I haven't really found my niche yet. I mean, I'm a botany major, yes, but what in particular do I want to specify in, and what do I want to do with it? I have a couple different interests, and from what I've told some of my professors, they think I might want to look at plant systematics(which I'll be taking in the fall), but at the moment I'm still kinda in limbo. I think finding a plan would be a lot easier if I knew where it was I wanted to end up.
There are a few things I do know:
1.) I like plants. That's a given.
2.) I like talking about plants and telling people about things and helping people understand what it is I'm talking about. Which makes me wonder if I should look at teaching in some form.
3.) I want to find a median between labwork and fieldwork. I don't want to always be in the lab, but I don't always want to always be in the field either. So I'd like to find some place where I can do both.
4.) I'm kinda more on the macro rather than the micro side of things. Working with a large part of a plant is much more appealing to me rather than, say, its mitochondria. Hence why I think plant systematics or something similar might be a better way to go, since I'd be working with connecting plants with other plants, and taxonomy, etc.
5.) I like identifying plants. Again, we go back to taxonomy and plant systematics.
6.) Undergrad work has completely cured me of any love of chemistry.
Right now, I think the most likely thing I'm gonna do is grad school, probably at the uni I'm at now. They have a botany graduate program, and it's close enough that I could probably commute if I wanted to. I suspect I'm gonna end up in research or some other thing that would require a master's degree. Not to mention one of the requirements for a master's at my uni is to do some time as a TA, so I'd get some idea of what teaching is like. So at the moment, it seems to be the most logical thing to do.
I've gone ahead and gotten a GRE book so I can start studying for that, and I've started doing research on admissions and tuition and whatnot. Grad school does bring up some new questions though. Like, how am I going to pay for it? Should I do it full time? Or should I get a job and do school part time? If I do that though, that means I'd need to get my driver's license pretty soon so I can go about getting a way to commute back and forth. Or I'd be doing a lot of walking to get up to the nearest bus stop and back. There's a lot of things I need to do fairly soon.
One thing I do know though is that after I graduate, I'm gonna take a semester off before diving into grad school. That way I can unwind before going into it. What I'm gonna do in the meantime though, I don't know. Probably either get a job and start saving up money, or maybe perhaps just be my parents' house-Ru for a couple months and find something to do in the meantime. I guess ideally, I'd like to get a job over at the uni, perhaps helping with research or managing the herbarium, or something, so I can keep being in botany mode while still doing the grad school thing. I don't know. There's a lot of questions I'll need to have answered over the next several months. So I guess we'll see.
Today's musing has been brought to you by the letters B and P, and by the number 6.
Seeing as it's my last year of school and all, and I have some time this summer, I realized I probably need to start getting a plan together as far as what I'm going to do once I graduate.
I'm kinda a little stuck in that regards. I guess you could say I haven't really found my niche yet. I mean, I'm a botany major, yes, but what in particular do I want to specify in, and what do I want to do with it? I have a couple different interests, and from what I've told some of my professors, they think I might want to look at plant systematics(which I'll be taking in the fall), but at the moment I'm still kinda in limbo. I think finding a plan would be a lot easier if I knew where it was I wanted to end up.
There are a few things I do know:
1.) I like plants. That's a given.
2.) I like talking about plants and telling people about things and helping people understand what it is I'm talking about. Which makes me wonder if I should look at teaching in some form.
3.) I want to find a median between labwork and fieldwork. I don't want to always be in the lab, but I don't always want to always be in the field either. So I'd like to find some place where I can do both.
4.) I'm kinda more on the macro rather than the micro side of things. Working with a large part of a plant is much more appealing to me rather than, say, its mitochondria. Hence why I think plant systematics or something similar might be a better way to go, since I'd be working with connecting plants with other plants, and taxonomy, etc.
5.) I like identifying plants. Again, we go back to taxonomy and plant systematics.
6.) Undergrad work has completely cured me of any love of chemistry.
Right now, I think the most likely thing I'm gonna do is grad school, probably at the uni I'm at now. They have a botany graduate program, and it's close enough that I could probably commute if I wanted to. I suspect I'm gonna end up in research or some other thing that would require a master's degree. Not to mention one of the requirements for a master's at my uni is to do some time as a TA, so I'd get some idea of what teaching is like. So at the moment, it seems to be the most logical thing to do.
I've gone ahead and gotten a GRE book so I can start studying for that, and I've started doing research on admissions and tuition and whatnot. Grad school does bring up some new questions though. Like, how am I going to pay for it? Should I do it full time? Or should I get a job and do school part time? If I do that though, that means I'd need to get my driver's license pretty soon so I can go about getting a way to commute back and forth. Or I'd be doing a lot of walking to get up to the nearest bus stop and back. There's a lot of things I need to do fairly soon.
One thing I do know though is that after I graduate, I'm gonna take a semester off before diving into grad school. That way I can unwind before going into it. What I'm gonna do in the meantime though, I don't know. Probably either get a job and start saving up money, or maybe perhaps just be my parents' house-Ru for a couple months and find something to do in the meantime. I guess ideally, I'd like to get a job over at the uni, perhaps helping with research or managing the herbarium, or something, so I can keep being in botany mode while still doing the grad school thing. I don't know. There's a lot of questions I'll need to have answered over the next several months. So I guess we'll see.
Today's musing has been brought to you by the letters B and P, and by the number 6.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-11 10:46 pm (UTC)As for paying for grad. school, I'm sure, from personal experience, that if you went to your professors and advisor they could help you find out about some scholarships in your department. There are all kinds of scholarships available from universities, especially for niche areas like botany or plant systematics. And I would check into any kind of honor societies or national botany associations -- the Medieval Society gives out lots of money for grad. school, and I'm sure there's something comparable for botany.
Hearts, Ruru! You are the most adorable thing ever, and I am sure that whatever you end up doing will be what you love! <3 <3
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-12 09:02 pm (UTC)I hadn't really thought of the possiblity of scholarships from botany associations, but I'll look that up. Maybe my adviser knows of some. I guess ultimately, I'll need to talk to him soon after I get back to school, and see what he says. Maybe I can get some questions together by then so I don't sound clueless and silly when I speak with him. ^_^;
Those are some good ideas, Skeiler, and I think I'll try to follow them through. Thank you muchly for suggesting them! <3 <3