Okay, I need some advice about school - long post
#116498 - 10/27/04 06:10 PM
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I always read everyone's posts and just don't feel I normally have a post that would really be important enough, but I guess now I do. I having some dilemmas with school. Right now I'm in my 3rd out of 4 years of college at a realy great design school here in my hometown actually that I am so lucky to be at since it's tough to get into. I'm majoring in interior design which is something that I've known I've wanted to do since I was in like 5th grade. The past 2 years of college I have absolutely known that I was going to be doing a job that I loved so much no matter how incredibly hard I had to be working all of the time. But then over the summer I went to study abroad in Italy and I took a trip by myself to Paris before I came home and just fell in love with everything over there. I didn't end up getting much of a summer vacation though since my classes over there were so demanding and by the time I got home school was starting up again. Just for those of you that don't know, Interior Design is so much more than like picking out drape and paint colors these days. It's a lot more architectural and we do a lot of computer work. But just as an example, my last project that we spent the first 6 weeks of the semester on, I was at school working in the computer labs non-stop (weekends I'd be there from when it opened at 9am until it closed at midnight or 2 am and then back again the next day). It is the most demanding major at our school and I guess probably one of the reasons that they turn out some of the best designers. But now to my problem. From the time this semester started in August I just really not been into it. I wanted to drop out the first week - and I am such an overachiever that I never quit anything. The more I thought about what I really wish I was doing, it would be going to a culinary school and doing baking and pastry making and all. My parents think I need to stick it out in school and finish and then go from there if I still want to change my mind, but I still have a year and half more of all this stress (which is not good for IBS) and then I would just hate to waste that time when I could really be doing something else. But then I also see the other side of it where if I've come so far and paid all this money (which is ALOT) I should finish and have the degree. I also don't know if a lot of this could just be that I'm just burnt out on the whole thing and it doesn't mean that I don't want to do it altogether-if that makes any sense. And even after I graduate in a year and half, I have 2 years of interning and then I have to take the national test to be certified as an Interior Designer before I can actually practice, so essentially it would really be another 3 1/2 years before I could think of doing something else. This whole thing is just really coming up for me again because I have to sign up for my schedule for the spring semester next week and I am just really wondering if I want to come back. It's hard too because I'm really good at the whole Interior Design thing but I'm just feeling like my heart is not in it anymore, but it could lead to some amazing jobs and I could live in Europe and I just don't know! But then just tonight I made lollipops from scratch for my friends for Halloween and it is just the best thing ever! I go nuts making cakes and decorating them for people's birthdays, I LOVE the Food Network on TV. But I'm just so torn. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!
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It is sooo normal to change your mind right in the middle (or even beginning ) of your first degree. nobody is going to be able to tell you what to do, but here are some things to think about.
you said you have wanted to do this since you were very little...how long have you consiously wanted to do the baking thing?
is there anyway to complete the interior design course with less stress, even if it takes more time, you could get a medical cartificate or something..? How much of your current 'lack of interest' in it so you honestly think is down to burnout? It is very common for people who take something they love as a hobbie, and turn it into a career or a study course, to become sick of it and inspireless.
Have you fully investigated what it would take to become a professional pastry chef / baker / confectioner? Have you investigated the stress involved in that course?
In England (where I grew up) we specialise very very early. At the age of 16 we have to choose 3 subjects to specialise in for two years (called A'levels) and the results of those exams get us into university. if you want to study a science at university, at least two of your A' levels have to be sciences and vice versa for the arts subjects. so effectively, at 16 you are having to decide you entire future!!!!
thank goodness I at least got the sciences right, but am currently transitioning from environmental science to nutrition and dietetics. I knew I wanted to do nutrition from the end of my first year of environmental sciences and had to sit through three more years of it!!! I told myself...if nutrition is what you really want to do, you will still be passionate about it when you finish this degree and then you can have both. I wanted to make sure if wasn't just a fleeting passion (as young people so often have). Turns out it wasn't and I feel even MORE sure about my career path.
You need to sit and investigate the job markets for both of your possible careers. Maybe before you do the two year internship you can take a year out and investigate the pastry thing.
Ask yourself honestly, why did your fire for interior design suddenly go out????
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Feel the fear and do it anyway!
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-maybe you could take a semester off to think about it. Does your academy give counseling services & leave of absences?
You may be putting the career thing on hold for a short while, but the investment in reflection could be just what you need to focus on your true "aspiration."
Bob.
PS: I've changed majors quite a few times. After taking many vocational/personality tests, I've finally found the perfect fit - Urban Planning. My point is, to take some time to take a good look at your own traits/characteristics/etc and try to find that good fit. 
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Life is transitory, love is not!
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Brittany,
My advice would be to stick with interior design, atleast for now. You are almost to a degree, os you are not losing anything by still going at it until you are POSITIVE that you would wan t to change to something else.
Maybe you could keep baking/ gourmet cooking, etc as a hobby? If it has been your dream to interior design , and you are so great at it, than maybe you still have a passion through it. Just make sure that your second thoughts aren't just a phase.
Sometimes the excitement of something new can lead people to make quick decisions that you regret.
But, you also only live this life once, so if it is in your heart that you definately want to do pastry making. etc for a living, than go for it!
One more question- I don't know how schooling for that goes, would it be easy enough of a degree to earn while working in interior design, if you put it off acouple of years? I also like daliatree's advice to you.
Good luck, and remember that it is YOUR decision, and not your parents, but it is nice that you are respecting the money they put into your education.
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-Sheri
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I know what you're going through....I am still sort of going through that!
Engineering was pushed on me from a young age because I always excelled in math and science. I went to Purdue and graduated top 10 in my engineering class, I worked my butt off in college. I was really good in school, but never REALLY had my heart in it. I thought that I would grow to love it...
I thought about dropping out and switching degrees MANY times during college, but my parents would have killed me.
To make a long story short - I worked for 6 years as an engineer (and I had to do 3 internships too). I never enjoyed it, ever. I think it caused a ton of stress for my stomach too, because I had very demanding jobs. One good thing did come out of engineering - I met my husband at my first job.
But I finally quit engineering about 5 months ago. I have always wanted to work with kids or coach swimming. I started babysitting a ton, and now I am marketing skincare/cosmetics. I finally LOVE my job, and I have much less stress. It is still really difficult to deal with my parents, because we spent a LOT on school, and they were so proud of their little engineering daughter. My mom still has not told her friends that I quit.
However, I am very glad that I stuck with it and got my degree, because it is like a security blanket to me. If God forbid something happened to my husband, at least I have a great degree to fall back on. And who knows - maybe in awhile I'll change my mind again and want to go back! My husband is an engineer too, so I'm still surrounded by it all the time.
Also - because of my degree, I have had offers from people to just work part time, or to just do documentation for constuction jobs, etc.
I just would have been very upset if I hadn't finished the degree, after all my hard work. You are working very hard for your degree, don't give up yet. Get your degree. If you decide you really want to change careers, take night classes and get another degree. You might get out of school and absolutely love your first job, who knows.
Good luck!! Follow your heart, but don't act impulsively until you've seriously thought everything out!
~Cara
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~Cara~
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You've gotten some great advice here. I can't relate completely because I've always been a pretty decisive person, and even when I do second-guess myself, I rarely want to go through all the steps to make a change. I do think you should complete your degree. You are young now and have the opportunity to do it. The older you get, the harder is to go back and finish something. A lot of other factors come into play when you are going "back" to school as opposed to continuing -- you have to give up a paycheck, and either take out a lot of student loans or surrender your independence to your parents, or move back home after you've been out on your own, etc. Right now you have a built-in support group in your peers, because everyone is in school. It's a much different story when you go back at, say, 28, when your friends are bringing home paychecks, getting married, having kids ... and you are writing term papers. It's not impossible to do it later. but I would strongly encourage you to just stick it out until you get your degree. It's also really easy to get caught up in a fantasy of moving to Europe and studying with the finest pastry chefs -- but you need to keep in mind all the logisitcol difficulties that go along with that. You'd need a student visa, or a work visa, you'd be livning thousands of miles away from your family, you'd have to fidn an apartment and probably strange roommates ... I don't want to bust your bubble; I just want you to understand that the grass isn't always greener. My bf moved to London a year ago, for career reasons, and also to pursue a personal desire to live and travel in Europe for an extended period of time. Well, it's hard, he's lonely, he stays up all night to watch american baseball, he feels left out when I am having fun without him, etc. It's not all bad but it's not all roses either.
If you are truly interested in the culinary arts, then you and God will find a way to put it into your life. If you are so interested in interior design AND culinary arts, maybe you'll find a way to combine those elements. A wedding coordinator, for example, has to have a thorough understanding of design in order to set up the reception hall, and of food and baking in order to choose a caterer and menu ... get my point?
I have also always felt drawn to the culinary field, and in high school even got brochures and looked into foregoing college in favor of the Culinary Institute. In the end I decided that as a very intellectual, academic person, I'd feel unfulfilled if I were just earning a craft instead of an academic field. That being said, I still talk about opening my own restaurant, even though I'm in law school. But in my fantasy restaurant, I'm 50 and my brothers and I are partners. Dreams can be life-long -- there is no need to rush out adn do everything now. For now I enjoy being one of the best-fed law students (because I cook all my own meals) and I love being able to host parties and entertain my friends and family with homemade foods. Last month my SIL and I threw a baby shower for my other SIL, adn it was a great way for me to satisfy some of my cooking urges. There are many ways to satisfy your dreams -- be open-minded.
Go ahead and register for your classes for next semester. Better to keep all your options open -- there is no need to rush into a decision right this second.
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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Hmmm. Originally I was leaning towards sticking to it, but three and a half years is a long time. If you live until 80, that's about 5% of your life - just to put things into perspective. So yeah, it is a big decision to leave the school, as well as a big decision to STAY in school. Make sure your parents realize that - that it's not only a big decision to leave, but a big decision to stay - it goes both ways.
Is the school expensive? I can tell you right now if it's an expensive school, your parents will feel as if they've wasted two and a half years of tuition. If you do want to leave, let them know it's not wasted. 75% of this country doesn't go to college, so even having two years worth you're above many. And, if you had good grades during those two years, that will help you get into culinary school.
Remember, many universities offer a chance to change your major up to three semesters before graduation. My school allows you to change as long as you have 45 credits left to complete. So if you were at a school that offered interior design and culinary education, you wouldn't be having this dilemma. That's another thing to think about. Most college people have a chance to switch - you don't unless you leave the school.
As a sidenote, I studied abroad and had the same experience - I can't wait to go back! I went to Montreal and fell in love with it, even though I went in the winter and it was basically -40 for two months straight! If the city was that awesome despite that weather, well... that's a damn cool city! Hopefully I will be back at the school I studied at in the fall of 2006, studying for my master's in Film!
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You guys really are so helpful. So I think I will stick with it and graduate just because I don't think I'd be able to stand it if I knew I quit because I'm definitely not that kind of person. And I do think that I could still pursue something culinary wise when I'm older and you can be so successful and never have gone to school for that. But I do think I would probably be better off if I just stuck with this and then see what happens from there. It's funny because I always felt so bad for my friends that were so indecisive at school and was so glad I was never like that, and then what do you know! Amanda - it's funny you mentioned about doing wedding planning because I was thinking how that would be a really interesting way to incorporate both things. And also on a side note, I design and make Cigar Box Purses, and then through business relations of my dad's, I am not designing real purses that are getting made a factory in China that my dad's friend has contacts with. So who knows, I could just end up doing a billion things. And in actuality, I guess I'm really lucky to have so many options in front of me, and I suppose I don't really have to pick just one. We'll see! Thanks again you all!
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