Thinking

So, I've been thinking. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but I've been thinking about changing my major. Again. Oh, boy. Here's the deal. My current major is Physiology and Developmental Biology. I like it a lot. I mean, I'm not thrilled about taking o-chem and biochemistry, but I love biology and I love studying how our bodies work. They're absolutely amazing.

My career plan is to go to Physical Therapy school. PT is a good way to help people in the health field without poking anyone with needles or cutting anyone open or looking at nasty skin diseases. Plus, I just think muscles and joints are really cool and it would be fun to study. The problem with this great plan is that there is no guarantee that Spencer and I will even end up in a city that has a PT school. It all depends on where he goes for medical school. It also depends on if me going to school for another 3 years and bringing us another 60,000+ dollars of tuition debt is the right thing for us and for our future family. There are a lot of "what ifs" involved.

So I was thinking. What if I changed my major to Biological Science Education? I could still do the rest of the prerequisites for PT school and take that route if I want to, but I'd earn my teaching certificate in the process. Then I'd have a real back-up plan. If PT school didn't work out for one reason or another, I could get a job as a teacher, earning a decent salary while Spencer is in medical school. Teachers may not make a ton, but they make more than someone with just a bachelors in PD Bio does. They get pretty good benefits, too. Besides, Spencer's going to medical school, and making buckets of money isn't really the reason I'd go into PT either. PTs do make a good amount of money though.

I've thought about teaching on and off since I was in high school. I think I'd enjoy it, especially if I got to teach something more advanced than 8th grade general science. Teachers can make a real difference in kids lives, and I think I'd be good at it. I've been told I'd make a good teacher anyway. Changing my major wouldn't change my career plans. It would give me a real back up plan, but it wouldn't prevent me from doing PT school. However, it would be a fairly large shift for me. I'd have to take a bunch of education classes, and take a larger variety of science classes. I wouldn't need o-chem, biochemistry, tissue bio, or cell bio, but I'd need a geology class, biodiversity classes, and history of biology. The one class that I'd be really sad about not taking would be the human embryology class. Maybe I could still take it. I just think that embryology is fascinating, and taking a class entirely about the development of a baby would be so fun.

I don't know what I'll end up doing. I'm going to think about it for a while still. I'll figure it out. First thing is to find out if I'd be allowed to switch and if I could still be done with classes by August of 2014, because if those two things can't happen there's no point thinking about it anymore. :-)