- Joined
- Sep 5, 2016
- Messages
- 437
- Reaction score
- 602
Hi all,
I know there's a lot of nerves night now from people with no or few interviews (and that is totally reasonable), but I wanted to see if we could have a little fun discussing our dreams of what we'd do if medicine were not an option. Yes, I hear you folks that will say, "But I have always only wanted to be a doctor since I was 2!" and if so, maybe this game is not for you. These things don't have to be realistic - since most likely the majority of us would opt to do whatever seemed like the best option to support ourselves and our families - but an imaginary plan if you had no responsibilities and money weren't a factor.
I'll go first: At the low points of grad school I would reflect on my love of teaching, travel, and working with individuals with mental/physical differences and try to come up with a plan of what I could do even if I never received my PhD. The plan was this: I would move to Micronesia where I would teach science and math to deaf students using American Sign Language (believe it or not this is a real thing, google Deaf WorldTeach). Now there are at least two major things that make this a fantasy. Although I can get by conversationally with ASL I am nowhere near fluent and have no business teaching in this language. Also, my incredibly wonderful life partner was never on board for moving to Micronesia. However, thank goodness I eventually earned the degree, and things have gone pretty great since then, but the fantasy was a zen place for me on late nights alone in the lab. I even told a few people about it, mostly because it was fun to see their response when they asked about my post-PhD plans and clearly expected me to say pursue a postdoc like 90% of all grads. (For the record, I am now a postdoc and not a teacher in Micronesia. Sigh...)
I know there's a lot of nerves night now from people with no or few interviews (and that is totally reasonable), but I wanted to see if we could have a little fun discussing our dreams of what we'd do if medicine were not an option. Yes, I hear you folks that will say, "But I have always only wanted to be a doctor since I was 2!" and if so, maybe this game is not for you. These things don't have to be realistic - since most likely the majority of us would opt to do whatever seemed like the best option to support ourselves and our families - but an imaginary plan if you had no responsibilities and money weren't a factor.
I'll go first: At the low points of grad school I would reflect on my love of teaching, travel, and working with individuals with mental/physical differences and try to come up with a plan of what I could do even if I never received my PhD. The plan was this: I would move to Micronesia where I would teach science and math to deaf students using American Sign Language (believe it or not this is a real thing, google Deaf WorldTeach). Now there are at least two major things that make this a fantasy. Although I can get by conversationally with ASL I am nowhere near fluent and have no business teaching in this language. Also, my incredibly wonderful life partner was never on board for moving to Micronesia. However, thank goodness I eventually earned the degree, and things have gone pretty great since then, but the fantasy was a zen place for me on late nights alone in the lab. I even told a few people about it, mostly because it was fun to see their response when they asked about my post-PhD plans and clearly expected me to say pursue a postdoc like 90% of all grads. (For the record, I am now a postdoc and not a teacher in Micronesia. Sigh...)
At least my parents let me hold on to that dream until I was 14 when they told me the truth.
