Researching Health Careers

In an effort to explore good "helping" careers (by which I mean direct helping; obviously there are many ways to help people), I've been trying to read up on various health careers.

The past couple of weeks, I've gone bookstore cruising, hanging out in the health reference sections. Of course, one of the downsides of this approach is that 98% of the books are aimed at current/prospective nurses and physicians. I have yet to see a book entitled "So, You Want to Be an Occupational Therapist!" or "Thinking About Health Administration?" alongside the test prep books and the Physician's Desk Reference.

I figured that my hometown library would have a bit more diversity, and it did, sort of. The book I picked up titled "Careers in Medicine" turned out to be a guide on getting into medical school (it's hard). Also got a book detailing every incarnation of therapist in health care, which did a good job of providing a neat summary of each job's day-to-day expectations and education requirements, and a collection of nurses' stories of memorable experiences in areas ranging from a nursing home to a refugee camp.

On the other hand, a lot of the health career books were written in a rather… how should I put it… light style of prose. One was actually entitled "Cool Careers for Girls in Health" as though there was a counterpart entitled "Cool Careers for Boys in Health." It was clearly written for middle school-age girls; there were entire pages with quotes from health professionals in large print surrounded by big zigzag lines.

The other health profession-focused books tended to be test prep books and (very old) textbooks on specific health topics. So, I've decided that the next place to try should probably be my school's pre-health resources. From looking at their website and mission statement, the university pre-health society mainly focuses on medicine, dentistry, public health, and veterinary medicine. It wasn't clear what resources are available for other health careers.

Goals for the Near Future

1. Figuring out my academic plan. I started working towards a Judaic Studies major, but am also very interested in Health Studies (my school offers a major and minor program which combines sociology courses on American healthcare and hard sciences). Since I'm most of the way through the Judaic Studies major, I either want to minor in Health Studies (still giving me space for elective courses) or squeeze in the Health Studies major (which includes a supervised internship).

Since I'm a second-semester sophomore, I have to figure this out fairly soon, which to some degree also means figuring out how I want to relate my studies and extracurricular activities to my post-college life (scary thought!)

2. Figuring out this summer. Even in high school, when we had (what felt like) very long summer reading lists and volunteer or paid jobs, summer was a time to just be. All of a sudden, I'm on a hall where people talked about summer internships at the beginning of fall semester. This summer looks like it will be a mix of summer school and volunteering. So, unpaid work will come my way, just not the kind that many liberal arts school students view as the magical pathway to finding a Meaningful Job with Purpose.

3. Finding time for a painting class!!

Last fall I took a beginning painting class, introducing myself to the special noxious smell of oil paint, the challenge of not getting your every possession paint-stained, the odd sight of a student walking around a classroom shirtless (I guess normal shirt-wearing rules are different during non-class hours?), and the weird feeling of standing in a room with an unclothed person (in this case a model, obviously) when you are fully clothed.

On different type of note, though, after drawing in pencil/pen and with Photoshop for several years, with only occasional dabbling in watercolor and acrylic painting, it felt very empowering to mix colors rather than just click on them, to build an image in soft colors rather than harsh lines. It was easier to make a mistake and just paint over or around it than to erase a pencil line and be haunted by its faint ghost. After all this, it was very sad to not find any art classes that fit into my schedule for this semester, so I'm hoping that something will pop up junior year.