I don't know what to do with my life.

elsham

I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but I was wrong. Very wrong. (I'm not looking for an answer here, I just want to hear some opinions from different brains so I can get some ideas/thoughts.)

I'm a Spanish and Linguistics major, Chemistry minor. What will I do with that, you ask? EXCELLENT question. The not so excellent answer: I don't know.

I like two things that I currently do and would love to continue doing: tutoring/teaching and translating/interpreting. I know that whatever I end up doing, I want to teach it and I want to be able to communicate with people in different languages, on the job. I currently work 3 jobs doing just this, and would love to continue. But I want a career, not just random jobs.

I wanted to apply to grad school for linguistics, and am writing a senior thesis for my writing sample. Unfortunately, only now am I starting to realize that I may not want to apply. I was thinking I'd teach at the college level with it, but it'll take YEARS before I reach that point, and the job market sucks anyway. I've been doing this calorie counting thing for so long now, and I took a few nutrition classes, and I'm definitely liking it A LOT more than linguistics. Yea, linguistics is cool, but I can apply nutrition to my own life, my own future, and to other people's lives. I have t1 diabetes, and if I go into nutrition I'd want to work in pediatric endocrinology. How cool would it be to wake up every morning and help people manage their diet and improve their lives?! AND I can work with a wider range of people, speaking Russian and Spanish, so that covers the languages part. There's badgillions of programs that go into schools/ set up events/etc. to teach nutrition to kids that I can take part of, and that would totally satisfy the other part too. And I'm much more likely to find a job easier than with linguistics. SOOOOO, what do I do? Drop the linguistics, stop wasting my time, and switch to nutrition? Or keep going and see what happens? Or whatever other suggestions you may have...

Any opinions/thoughts/comments much appreciated. Thanks for letting me vent/rant.

routerguy666

Move to Spain and start an ecstasy lab - put all that education to use and rake in the dough.

Or the nutrition thing sounds ok...

cabaray

Hilarious!

eillamarie

Campaign @ all the jobs you currently have & see if you can get a higher paid permanent position and use your degree as leverage (this is assuming you don't work as a tutor for a family or something like that). It's what I'll be doing with my diploma in Therapeutic Recreation when I finish in 2 years (I currently work with adults with various disabilities).

BethanyMasters

I don't really have any suggestions for you but I can totally relate.

I only did two years of college and I didn't know what I wanted to major in so I just stopped. I putzed around for 5 years before I discovered my passion.

It wasn't until I really started getting smaller that I realized that I wanted to help people accomplish what I have accomplished and that I wanted to be a part of the solution of the obesity epidemic in the US.

In the end you have to pick what you are most passionate about.

dmpizza

Its great that you speak several languages. I wouldn't abandon the chemistry minor, I think you could easily do the following;
--Pharmaceutical Rep for American Companies in Latin America or Europe. I knew someone who did similar and they retired at 40!
--Sales Rep for technical companies(GE, Carrier, Lutron, etc...) in Latin America or Europe. Lots of postions.

One of the reason I suggested technical positions is simply because you are a girl. Technical companies have so few women that you will stand out in a positive way.

Best of luck to you.

42hockeymom

My sister is an analytical chemist who travels all over the world with a heavy emphasis on the Spanish speaking countries because she speaks spanish. She loves her job and does very well for herself.