By Ashmi Shah
Day by day, we’re all getting one step closer to meeting our end goals. Throughout your academic career, you will encounter students who have specific career end-goals in mind, and others from whom these endpoints are less defined, unclear of where their undergraduate studies will ultimately take them. Each scenario has its own type of stress – for example, the pressure of succeeding to reach end goals versus uncertainty about what the future looks like. However, I believe that having that curiosity and freedom to explore interests and possibilities should be embraced. I’d say it’s a golden opportunity to see what’s out there in the real world to explore the various disciplines in a field you may find interesting.
Your local community and online resources are a great place to start.
Getting involved in extracurriculars and looking for volunteering opportunities gives you the chance to network with like-minded individuals working in your desired field. Throughout high school and first-year university, I dedicated 2-3 hours a week to volunteer at a nearby clinic, shadowing a pharmacist, a nurse and a dermatologist, and seeing firsthand the day-to-day roles and duties involved with these careers. I let myself have the time to see what really interests me, what shapes my work ethic, and most importantly, what role I want to play in my community. Time management, creative thinking and working with others are some of the many skills developed, skills that are common to all careers. You are not on a timeline, allow your passions to evolve. Who knows, it may even spark a new interest in a discipline you were not considering earlier!
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