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OP, I apologize, I did not read your whole thread, but how do you feel about healthcare?
If your grades were strong, I highly suggest looking at accelerated nursing programs, or physician assistant programs. Talk to a good family friend (you'd be surprised how many people might be in your direct circle who would be willing to have a conversation with you!) about their career satisfaction. Ask to shadow them in some sort of setting for a day (if possible). Start volunteering at a hospital or become a CNA to earn some cash while earning hours of experience.
My fiance is a surgical physician assistant and loves his work. He was in your position just five years ago (he's 27 now) with a biology degree and wasn't sure what to do with it. He got his CNA and worked as that for 1 year until he decided to get his masters. I say the CNA might not be a bad idea as it is a quick foot in the door. It's not good money, but if you can live at home or have room mates, it will pay the bills while you get some seriously good experience. My fiances program required something like hundreds of hours of experience for entrance, so that helped him a lot. He was considering his MD, however is glad he went with the decision of PA for several reasons. Many folks will go back and forth all day on this, it's really a personal one. Speak with all levels of practitioners (RN's, NP's, PA's, MD's) and get their perspectives if able. There are great pros and cons to each. I personally have a lot of mid-level friends (NP and PA's) and they seem to love their jobs the most. My few MD friends work crazy hours, but are still young, so it's hard to tell if it will wear them out. However, doctors work all sorts of hours (some more than others!). I have a good friend who works pediatrics who has a pretty regular workweek with some call. I have had friends who hardly sleep who work in surgery. It all depends.
He now makes great money (helps to pay back the masters debt) and really loves his job. FWIW, he was in classes with all sorts of people (older folks, younger folks, ex music teachers, you name it, seriously!) and most of them successfully graduated and found jobs. I say "most" because the ones who didn't were seriously HUGE slackers and probably shouldn't have been in the program to begin with. One of them unfortunately had a mental illness, I believe.
Your degree is not wasted and is in fact quite valuable. I can only speak to this point because I have lived with one, and he is very passionate about helping others to drink the PA kool aid.
I envy you with my business degree. It was totally wrong for me. After I'm done working on my wedding, I'll be focusing on career change myself. Godspeed and you have many options!
Maybe off topic: I also blame the universities in the US.
In the US individual freedom is valued, which is good. But you need to shrink the programs with a bad job perspective. You cannot keep admitting tons of students just because there are so many applicants.
Also, elementary schools and high schools should make the students be relatively good at ALL SUBJECTS. Especially, math and English should be both strong. So they can still switch from English literature to accounting (or the other way round), if they want to. This idea is not crazy, but America is not doing well.
Maybe off topic: I also blame the universities in the US.
In the US individual freedom is valued, which is good. But you need to shrink the programs with a bad job perspective. You cannot keep admitting tons of students just because there are so many applicants.
Also, elementary schools and high schools should make the students be relatively good at ALL SUBJECTS. Especially, math and English should be both strong. So they can still switch from English literature to accounting (or the other way round), if they want to. This idea is not crazy, but America is not doing well.
The good schools have very limited enrollment numbers. Every field needs research. There's no need to limit what fields students can study.
Your at fault for equating higher education to jobs. University learning is not job training.
Additionally, high schools, while giving brief introductions to sciences and arts, do offer opportunities for students to become well versed in English and Maths. You can't go beyond Calculus 2 in high school, but that's plenty.
The good schools have very limited enrollment numbers. Every field needs research. There's no need to limit what fields students can study.
Your at fault for equating higher education to jobs. University learning is not job training.
Additionally, high schools, while giving brief introductions to sciences and arts, do offer opportunities for students to become well versed in English and Maths. You can't go beyond Calculus 2 in high school, but that's plenty.
University is not 100% for job training, but it is more or less for job training. What you learned in university should have a huge impact on your future career. Otherwise don't go to college.
Yes, I think we must limit what fields students can study. Most students are too young to make wise choices. We cannot force them to do things, of course, but we can limit their opportunities in high risk fields.
I didn't read all of the responses so it may have already been said, but - learn to code, and learn to code some more. You are in no way too late to go into computer science - you're well positioned age-wise to do it. Learn everything you can about tech. If I were your age, this is what I would do (I wish I still could, but I'm aged out).
Wow, skimmed the responses and nobody has told you this? I think you're posting on a forum that is not all that tied in to the millennial experience (I say that as an old myself) :-)
Advise you strongly to ask this question on reddit.
Anyway - google for organizations for women in tech, and look at online courses (not sure where you live) - CS50 is a key one:
You can go on to use your biology degree if you want, maybe working for a biotech startup, or can go in a completely different direction but this will give you freedom. Try not to stress - many options!
At least the OP is in a better spot, could try to choose a field and see if some of your credits are transferable for. Also, really try and go for scholarships and grants. Try to stay away from loans if you can.
you know with all the talk about nurses and programming/IT, anyone else feel like the majority of the people see stable job + good income and think "I should have done that myself so I'll tell other people to"? I just feel like all the push for it by people who aren't doing it now is going to make it like the law field back in the 90s. Lots of people saw lawyers as good jobs/income/stable and now look at the number of law grads not working in their high office dream job?
Yes I'm in healthcare and think it is a great field, but it isn't for everyone either. Yeah, I date a nurse, she's great, I wouldn't want the job myself though. Just something for the OP to consider when weighing all the people telling him to go into nursing/IT because all they see is a "good job"
You need to take a career test-go to a local college and take it. Don't just do what everyone else is doing. Crap I'm in my late 30's and I'm getting my 2nd degree in accounting..geez your life isn't over.
Which my question is why don't you want to go to medical school?
you know with all the talk about nurses and programming/IT, anyone else feel like the majority of the people see stable job + good income and think "I should have done that myself so I'll tell other people to"? I just feel like all the push for it by people who aren't doing it now is going to make it like the law field back in the 90s. Lots of people saw lawyers as good jobs/income/stable and now look at the number of law grads not working in their high office dream job?
"
Kinda - I won't tell people to work in healthcare. But I do think everyone should learn to code, including me - a marketable skill that will always be in demand in some way. You don't have to necessarily go into IT, you can be an entrepreneur, work at a startup, work at Google in some other capacity.
Kinda - I won't tell people to work in healthcare. But I do think everyone should learn to code, including me - a marketable skill that will always be in demand in some way. You don't have to necessarily go into IT, you can be an entrepreneur, work at a startup, work at Google in some other capacity.
I've been in software development, software QA, software process development and standards, and IT for going on 40 years, have an MS in computer science, and currently work in IT for an international bank. The vast majority of IT and computer-related jobs today don't involve coding at all. Much coding these days is off-shored or done by foreign nationals who charge at a lower rate. It's difficult to underbid someone offshore who is just as skilled as you and charges not much more than minimum wage.
Whether coding qualifies as a marketable skill depends on what sort of job in which sector you're talking about. For example: in most companies, development isn't done by IT. IT troubeshoots problems, maintains and installs software and hardware. It's acquiring and putting together stuff developed by other people and making sure it's working. Problems found by IT are documented and passed off to development for root cause analysis and to be fixed. And like healthcare, the life of a coder isn't for everyone.
The value of coding as a universal skill for young people to develop has been grossly oversold by educators and politicians who don't know what they're talking about. Just my opinion.
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