January 5, 2004
A: FROM MENTOR DENISE HARBERT IN IL
Hi Sung! Yes, it is absolutely normal that you do not know what you want
to do with your life at 15-16 years old!!! Our society has advanced so
quickly in such a short time that teenagers have ridiculous pressures that
they never had in previous generations. It is absurd to think that 16
year-olds are capable of knowing what they will want to do when they are 40
and I think it's unfair that adults make them feel like they should
know. I guarantee that you will be a different person when you're 40 than
you are now, so you SHOULD change your mind a dozen times between now and
then. Don't worry so much about what comes in college. That's still 2.5
years away and you have at least 4 years before the students around you
will really start to know what they want to major in. Most college
students change their majors at least once before they graduate, so it's
crazy to think you should be certain of your major before you even get to
college. The most important decisions you need to make now are related to
general study habits and peer pressures. For example, you need to get
mostly As and Bs if you want to get into a good college. You need to avoid
drugs, avoid hurting or teasing other students, and avoid getting too
serious with a boyfriend while you're this young. The more difficult
decisions don't need to be made until you're older. Start thinking about
what colleges you like when you're a Junior. Take the SAT/ACT at the end
of your Junior year - maybe study and retake them in the summer if your
first test scores are lower than you'd like. Apply for colleges at the
beginning of your Senior year. Apply for scholarships throughout your
Senior year. Choosing a college major is rarely necessary until you're in
college. It is enough to point out several SET possibilities on your
college/scholarship applications when you're a Senior - TWO years from now!!!

Have you seen the recent investment company TV commercial with the two
African American sisters who are about 8-12 years old? The oldest girl
rattles off that she wants to be a singer, dancer, pediatrician, and about
a dozen other widely different careers that she can't possibly do all in
one lifetime. Then her little sister announces that she thinks her big
sister is going to be either a singer or a lawyer, because "you talk a lot,
so you could be good at it". In truth, this is how the vast majority of
today's teenage girls feel. Not just at 8 years old, but at 16 as
well. They want to do everything and be everybody and aren't quite mature
enough to start narrowing down their dreams to focus. I think this is an
awesome problem. It wasn't so long ago that girls were looked at like they
were stark raving lunatics if they wanted to be anything other than a
wife/mother, nurse, teacher, or secretary. We have made shocking
improvements in just one generation. (My mother was fired for getting
pregnant with me, which is illegal now.) Unfortunately, there are some
down sides to this progress. There are now so many opportunities available
to girls that they are faced with a lot of pressure, stress, and difficult
decisions. Because this is such a new concept in our society, not all
adults know how to advise today's teenage girls. Please be cautious about
what advice you follow from which adults. If an adult is trying to
pressure you into a decision that you're not ready to make, then simply
walk away and find another adult to get advice from! (That's what makes
GEM-SET so great - you get to talk to women who were already pioneers in
areas that women didn't normally go!)

Although you're worried, you already know a lot more about yourself than
most teenagers your age know. You know you want to pursue SET. That
decision has already narrowed your choices considerably, so you're
lucky! You listed five potential majors: math, computer science,
chemistry, physics, aerospace engineering. Most large universities are
divided into smaller "colleges". You have to pick one college when you are
applying to a university. Four of the majors you listed are typically
located within a university's "College of Letters and Sciences". The fifth
is typically located within a university's "College of Engineering". The
main decision you will need to make before you get to a university is which
of these two colleges you want to be in. Do you want to design and build
physical objects (engineering) or do you want to use devices that are
already built to study something or create something more abstract like
computer code, formulas, or chemical reactions (science)? Typically,
scientists can leave their major undecided for several years, but engineers
must select their engineering major much earlier on. That's because
engineering programs tend to have more rigid class schedules with more
requirements that build on each other in a specific order. Scientists can
more easily jump around and have a lot more elective choices, including
languages and social sciences. Therefore, engineers typically have one
major and possibly a minor. Scientists often double major and have been
known to triple or quadruple major. I was in the College of Letters and
Science and I triple majored in Math, Statistics, and French. Although I
took classes in all three of my majors every semester starting as a
Freshman, I didn't officially declare the Math and Statistics majors until
my Junior year and the French major in the last semester of my Senior
year. I wanted to be 100% certain that I could finish the major
requirements before I put it on paper and signed it.

If you were forced to choose right now, I would probably suggest that you
head toward science, simply because more of your interests are scientific
in nature and you'll have more choices and more time to decide. Also,
there are sciences related to aerospace engineering. Rather than being the
person who designs and builds the radar, telescopes, or space ships
(aerospace engineering), you could be the person who uses the radar,
telescopes, or space ships to study things in the weather and in space
(meteorology, space science, astrophysics, astronomy).

Good luck!
********************
January 2, 2004
A: FROM MENTOR KRISTIN TAGHON IN IL
Hi, Sung,
You are in a GREAT position! If you like physics, you could major in that and
do anything you want afterwards! Most companies will hire a Physics major to do
ANYTHING! I know many MANY Physics majors who have done multiple career
changes. You will be FINE! I have a friend who was a Physics Major who first
made computer chips, then went into software engineering and now is in the
trading industry, coming up with algorithms for predicting trading and then
programming that! I have another Physics friend who went directly into
programming and is now a manager. Another went into testing. She's considering
doing something in the medical field, now - it may take 1-2 years of training,
but not that much. Many more stories will probably follow my email. So, take
those Physics classes. Take those computer classes (because I'm sure you'll
need to take some of those for a Physics degree, or engineering, OR
programmer!). As you take these classes, pay attention to what you enjoy the
most and as you get closer to having to make a decision on the major in college,
you will probably know what you want. If you don't, major in Physics! And you
can't lose.

And yes, Sung, it IS normal to be in your spot. It's great to have all those
choices and you will have many opportunities in the years ahead to figure it all
out. And don't worry if you change your mind a few times. That is what happens
as you experiment and learn more about the different fields. Also you may want
to talk to people you respect in those fields. Talk to more than one person.
FInd out what they do every day.

Good luck and keep us informed!
Kristin Taghon
********************
A: FROM MENTOR ANDREA GUNTHER IN WA
Picking a career is difficult. It is very normal to
be changing your mind and thinking about different
careers in high school. Because you have narrowed
your options down to a SET field, a similar high
school education will prepare you for whatever you
choose. Don't worry you have time to decide. Find
out how your days would be spent in each of the
careers that you are exploring. Do you like working
with problems that you can visualize or put your hands
on or do abstract problems interest you. Are you
curious about how our physical universe works or are
you more intrigued with a system of interrelated
computer functions. Try to figure out what one or two
aspects of each career excite you the most. I thought
I might like computer programing in high school. I
liked its logic and the problem solving process that I
went through to write programs. These things that I
liked about computers were also found in engineering.
I chose engineering in the end because it incorporated
what I liked about computers as well as some
additional interests.