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Hello. Sorry for the length of this post. I'm currently 25 years old and have only held part time work experience since I graduated in 2015 and yes I feel like a total complete loser for not having my crap planned out. I still live with my parents who for some reason adore me and am grateful for their unflinching support. I was recently accepted into 3 graduate level programs, and yes as odd as it sounds I have no idea which one to pursue since I never really set in stone what I wanted from a career. One is an engineering masters program through Boston that allows non-engineers to pursue engineering at an MS level. The other is a masters in finance that also caters to non-finance people like myself. Both Boston and this finance program (OSU) have great employment ratings both hover at around 95-96% employment six months out from graduation. And finally, I was also accepted into NSU's college of dental medicine. I realize these programs are all a mile apart in terms of career similarities but here's who I am as a person:
Enjoy math (my degree was in the life sciences but I'm comfortable with math up to calc 2 from self learning)
Great problem solver
Eloquent speaker - no problem speaking in front of people (though I would prefer to work behind a desk)
Not squeamish
Paranoid about being laid off or fired (job security in general)
Student debt concerns - dentistry is gonna cost like 400k+ in loans after graduating (not kidding here) vs finance at around 60k and BU's program at 150k. The latter two don't bother me at all. But I can see myself in dental school losing sleep over that 400k figure.
In your opinion, and from your own experiences, which career would you advise someone to pursue. I'm interested in hearing your personal takes on this since, obviously, there is no single answer to which is best. Thanks all, and yes I realize how insane this question is, given how divergent these fields are. I've always had a problem in not know what I wanted in life. Though once I start on something, I set myself to it 300%. Thanks again folks.
You do t say anything about your dexterity. Do you have exceptional fine motor skills, steady hands? There are physical skills required to be a good dentist as well. Do you have the patience and people skills to calm squirming and resistant kids and scared adults as well?
I will say years back I had an anatomy and physiology professor who was a dentist. She hated it so much she gave up much a higher income to be a CC A&P teacher, even though she had hefty loans to pay back.
Each program will have its demands. Think about the jobs that each will qualify you for & consider your personality, where you want to live, working conditions/demands of job, etc. And then pick which fits you best.
Based on the career choices you have given, salary and status seem to be your primary motivators.
Whether or not you will regret that in 20 years remains to be seen.
Basically, engineering and finance is the world of corporate hierarchy. In the world of corporate hierarchy, you can make a lot of $ with a lot less effort (than say becoming a dentist), if you have powers of communication and persuasion, and are able to prioritize. Basically, it's not having competency. It's PROJECTING competency. Jerks are way more successful than nice pushovers in the corporate world, and it's not even close.
If what I said doesn't make sense, it will later.
Dentistry is a little different. You can do pretty well even if your interpersonal skills are a little lacking, though you might make less $. However, doing an actual good job is more important.
Dentistry is very difficult work. You really can't have an off day at work when you're drilling teeth. Very stressful.
In the corporate world, you can have less knowledge and work ethic than somebody else, but be much more successful ...
You said "Engineering." There isn't a field of just "Engineering." There are many sub fields -- Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Ceramic, Chemical, Aero, etc. which are you interested in enough to spend 40 years doing it? And which do you love enough to live, eat, sleep, and breath 28 hours a day, 8 days a week to complete a MS in it? Any Engineering program is so hard that you have to love it to survive or you'll quit. You aren't coming across as someone who really loves Engineering.
Engineering
I did enough coursework for a PhD in engineering, plus research and publications but no PhD. I advise if you are not more than calc II, no way do you go to graduate engineering though it may depend on program a bit. I know one person that did a life science MIT undergraduate (through differential equations or calc IV essentially) and MIT for masters in engineering but he was real math strong. It can be done but the jobs are in Taiwan, Singapore, China, etc so if the idea of moving overseas afterwards is appealing that may be a direction.
Finance
It is going all robo-finance in future. Lot of people into it will be disrupted in some areas of finance I think. There are still many going into it, just not sure on the future.
Dentist
Unlike medical docs these guys can still charge cash. Doctors have to do all these codes and ridiculous ten back and forth with insurance to get paid plus now have ten administrators telling them what to do, so it is getting real hard to be a doctor. But dentists are doing well and even expanding plus have none of that that doctors face right now. If you like teeth go this direction.
1. The engineering MS sounds more like an engineering management degree instead of pure engineering. You would wind up being a project manager or such, not a designer, which is fine. It is a good career field that pays well and could provide travel opportunities if you are willing to move. I have a BS/MS in Civil Engineering and spent several years overseas on construction projects.
2. I have no comment about the masters in finance.
3. My college buddy majored in electrical engineering and graduated near the top of his class. He went to work in San Francisco for a very large engineering firm. He hated it. He quit and got into dental school, and now practices in Hawaii where he loves it. He is doing well. The endodontist I just had a root canal from only works two days a week; I am guessing he clears $350K per year. Why not go talk with a few dentists in your area? I disagree a little with TestEngr; that is, dental costs are getting so high that insurance companies are starting to stick their finger in the process with pre-approval required for certain procedures like crowns.
While the Briggs-Myers online test can be a good starting point, I would strongly recommend going through aptitude testing, which is far more comprehensive and specific than a generic personality test. My spouse did that when contemplating a career change in their late 30s, and both our kids did that after high school to get a sense of where their strengths lay. It was eerily accurate for all three, and they all wound up in careers they genuinely enjoy making a good living.
There are a lot of career-aptitude testing places out there, but I think Johnson-O'Connor is one of the better ones. For one thing, they've been testing people for close to a century at this point, so they have a whole lot of data in developing analytics about which aptitudes are most helpful in which careers. For example, my spouse learned that they were in the bottom 5% for all tested subjects since the 1920s in clerical speed and accuracy, thus explaining their huge frustration with the standard grading chore involved in teaching. J-O'C does a two-day battery of tests followed by an individual meeting to go over results, and while it isn't cheap, our family found it very worthwhile.
Good luck to you - hope you wind up in a career you both enjoy and do well with.
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