Not sure what to do

[Mthom17]

I am an upcoming senior in high school, and I have no idea what I want to do. I am studying public safety at a vocational school (homeland security, EMS, etc.), and I am not sure what I want for a career. I am stuck between three career paths: doctor, nurse, and paramedic.

I told my mom at first that I wanted to be a paramedic, but then she started talking to me about nursing. I thought she was joking, because I'm male, but I started looking into it and am also very interested in nursing now. Then I imagine if I would be a good doctor, and now I'm more stressed out than I was to begin with.

I'm worried about disappointing my teacher, who says that I could become a very successful paramedic one day, and then disappointing my mom, who wanted to become a nurse but didn't have the stomach for it.

I am interested in both careers, but I don't know if it would be beneficial for me to do both at once. I'm wondering if maybe I should go into one for a few years, then do the other for the rest of my life. I really want to 'commit' to only one career at a time.

If I go into nursing, I would like to get my BSN, work for a bit, then get my MSN or possibly DNP, and work at one place. If I go into EMS, I'd like to get an associates degree in emergency services and work for two different agencies.

I would highly appreciate any help anyone can offer. With only one school year left until graduation, I need to make a decision quick.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Love your avatar. One of my personal favorites -- I named one of my Kindles 'Bender'.

I admire your ambition & energy. It's great that you want to get started right away on a career path. But I would urge you to slow down a bit. You're very young. There are no hard and fast timelines on education. Very few people end up sticking with decisions that they made in High School because priorities & preferences will change as we mature. Heck, I'm old but still evolving and changing. My point? Relax a bit - go ahead and begin your educational process but take time to "find yourself" (yep, unapologetic genuine Hippie here) along the way - and don't be surprised if you end up changing directions every few years.

Please DON'T be misled by the overblown recruitment efforts of all the commercial (for profit) schools out there promising you riches & lifelong career happiness as a result of their "quick" (but very expensive) health care programs. You will need at least a bachelor's degree. There are no quick fixes.

All health care professions share some common 'basic' or core educational requirements for undergraduate degrees...such as English, History, Math, etc. Many of these are dictated by the state you live in. Go ahead and start on these for your first year of college. Do some shadowing - to see exactly what is involved in different types of health care professions. There are a LOT more choices than RN or MD... but these are generally the ones that are most familiar to most people. Take a look at this site (Home | explorehealthcareers.org)

Best of luck to you - and give your Mom a shout-out for us. You are lucky to have such a caring and supportive parent.