It's too late for me to change career paths!

[AquariDem]

Okay, it's my senior year in college, and next spring I will be graduating with a BA in child development. Well, I've been student teaching this fall in a preschool classroom, and I'm having a hard time with the heavily social aspect of the work (helping children solve conflicts, focusing on the child rather than the "rules," etc). It might just be that preschool is not my age group, but...

Just lately, I've been sort of re-visiting my junior-high-school dream of becoming an architect. Math is not my favorite subject, but I love to draw. I've been seeing this picture of myself in an artist's office, surrounded by pens, paper and a computer, busily at work with a protractor while my favorite CDs play in the background. Should I take this thing seriously, or just treat it like the temptation to have an affair when you're married, or something?

[joeybee12]

1. You SOB! How dare you be only a college senior!!!!!!

I say go for it. There's plenty of time to go back to child development if you realize that's where you should be. Explore while you're young and have the enrgy and optimism to do so!

[BlackVelvetElvis]

17. Oh man

If you don't persue what you really want to do now, 10-15 years from now you will rethink everything and then return to school when you have a family/mortgage/life. Do what you really want to NOW. Isn't your brain trying to tell you something?

[carpetbagger]

It's not too late to change, but it might be too early.

You're almost done with the degree, so you should ask yourself what you thought the work would be like, and then decide whether you can get from here to there over the next several years. There might be some way to get from here to there (perhaps with an Ed.D. or masters, or maybe just by thinking about what you want and trying to go get it).

If you can't, there's always night school. Unfortunately, architecture has a pretty rigorous and idiopathic course sequence at most schools, so you're probably looking at the equivalent of 2.5-3 years of full-time school.

[AquariDem]

15. That's the thing--would I just repeat

the same thing? Thinking that I want to do something and then getting a little disillusioned by the reality? Well, I just might look into architectural school (when I'm ready to face some more loans). Hey, what does "idiopathic" mean?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Step back, take a deep breath,

and listen to your heart. If your instinct tells you education isn't your career path, back out now (I'm assuming you are not under obligation to teach X number of years in exchange for your education). If you have any electives left, try a drafting class or something like it, to see if architecture is the way to go. Keep your options open. It is never too late to change.

[Droopy]

3. Seems like you've got an awful lot of time invested

to be changing now. But if you aren't going to be happy, you may want to consider it. Life's too short spending it doing something you don't like when you have the power to change it. Like you suggest, it may be possible that you could get along better teaching a different age group, one where the kids have got that early social development out of the way. I know I would hate to spend all that time in college working my tail off only to have to start over, but whatever it takes to get you through.

[AquariDem]

13. I might do better with infants/young toddlers

It's still social work, but the conflict resolution stuff is not as complicated as with preschoolers. I hate the idea of throwing four years down the drain, so I'll definitely stay on in this program and graduate.

[Wwagsthedog]

4. No it isn't!

You're still young. First get your degree then spend your life doing what you feel you do best; what gives you the most satisfaction.

[bobbieinok]

5. senior year is NOT too late to change

According to one of my brothers (a partner in an architectural firm), every firm needs an artist (that's what he does), an engineer (the math guru), the site supervisor, and the contact person (member of the country club, member of dominant political party in the area, etc.)

He wasn't/isn't very good at math and (I think) had to repeat the required physics course.

He got the idea of being an architect in jr high when the class had to do a paper on what they wanted to do when they grew up. He didn't really have much idea, but architecture was one of the possibilities suggested on the basis of his results on the Couter (sp?) Preference Test.

My dad knew an architect in town and arranged for my brother to observe and interview him.

[Ellen Forradalom]

19. I married the site supervisor

The guy who eyeballs a walkway and says it's 1/4" off. Yeah, he drives me nuts too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT

That's society talking.

I went to grad school with people in the 50s and 60s making career changes. I've changed careers a couple times.

Only society thinks you should decide in high school what you will be doing when you retire.

FOLLOW YOUR HEART and screw anyone who tells you that you are "wrong".

by the way, when I said "Bullshit, etc." I didn't mean that as disparagin to you, I directed it at whatever tradition your knowledge came from.

best of luck to you in the decision of which path to follow!

[AquariDem]

16. That cheers me up quite a bit

Still, it would be one dramatic switch for me!

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. People do make big switches all the time

I went from engineering to music to grocery store checker to ministry, and have taken some detours into secretary work for management consulting and financial.

When I worked at a management consultant firm, many of the consultants were MBAs, of course, but we also had consultants from a wild variety of fields: one guy had done string theory as a phycisist for many years, a couple were former medical doctors (one had done a lot of work in Zimbabwe), my boss was a math major from Harvard, we had a few with graduate degrees in literature, history, even art. But they were all doing the same work - management consulting.

For the most part, unless you need to train in a very specialized way (such as med school for doctors, law school for lawyers, appropriate ph.D.s if one wants to be an academic or researcher), but for the most part, doesn't really matter what your degree is to get into business or some other areas - they are more interested in "Did this person excel in their field? Do they show motivation and drive? Did they have leadership positions in college that were successful?"

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. dupe of previous post

Deleted it.

[FlashHarry]

7. I know a guy who just graduated law school at 45.

Passed the bar with flying colors. It's never too late.

[DulceDecorum]

8. Finish your training

If you ever get to be a supervisor, it may stand you in good stead.
But there is nothing that says that you have to spend the rest of your life in early ed.
But it is much easier to get hired by an architectural firm once you have that piece of paper in your hand.
See whether you can intern somewhere, it might not be what you think it is. The specs involve a lot of math and NOTHING is as glamorous as it looks on TV. Real life is a lot like Dilbert.

[Catshrink]

9. I changed careers three times... maybe four.

I'm now doing what I love to do, teach HS. It's very different than I thought.

In your shoes, I would finish the degree you're working on. You're almost there. That way, you'll have the option of teaching and can go back to it if you change your mind later. With the economy and the exporting of jobs, you may need it fall back on.

If nothing else, you can perhaps work as a teacher while you complete your architectiture studies. It will probably be better income than working at retail while going to school. When I was getting my teaching credentials, it was helpful to have a decent income so I could pay as I went. No student loans for me!

Ultimately, of course it's your decision and you don't want to do something you loathe. Good luck to you!

[MissMarple]

10. Lots of good advice here. You have invested well in your education.

I say finish it up and move forward in whatever direction you have an interest in. I'm still toying with the idea of law school, and I'm looking at the old double nickle looming up here really soon.

Incidentally, any education you have in child development has broad applications. It will serve you well, as will your four year degree.
Arts and Science colleges produce good critical thinkers having a core of knowledge and skills that serve them well whatever direction they choose to go. Schools of Education can do that as well.

These are early days. Sometimes going out into the "real" world, working and seeing what you like and don't like is the best way to learn about yourself. Just remember, you haven't "wasted" anything. It's all to the good. :D

Additionally, four years in undergraduate school should put you on the road to becoming an educated person, it does not necessarily train you for a specific job, although it may. Looks to me like you have a win-win going on here.

[roughsatori]

11. You are entirely to old to change your mind or career

You are over the hill. You made a wrong decision, stick with it because your case is hopeless.

As my 86 year old grandmother said: "They will tell you it's never too late to go for your dream. They are wrong. I wanted to be in the NYC Ballet and dance for Balanchine, instead I'm making fucking cookie jars. It is too late to be a Prima-ballerina." She started crying at that point. I had never heard her curse before.

You don't state your age in your post but I guess if you are in your 70s it might be too late to switch.

[AquariDem]

14. 21 is a bit early for the retirement home

:)

[Journeyman]

12. I started as a journalist. . .

grew quickly disenchanted. There's something about talking to people about their misery then blabbing it to the world that didn't sit well with me. It was an easy move from there to graphic design, since I could continue with journalism as I learned my new craft. After a couple decades working for various ad agencies and publishers as a copy writer / designer / typographer, I came to the conclusion that, if I had to work for an idiot, I may as well work for myself. I've had my own design firm for some ten years and we've done quite well. I'm not totally satisfied, however, for I feel I should make the effort to pursue a dream I had back in school -- to be a college professor. To this end, I've made inquiries and may start next year towards another master's degree with an eye to eventually teaching. Having said this, I trust I may yet live into my nineties and, finding myself as inquisitive then as I was in my twenties, pursue my original dream to be a writer.

Don't let others set your goals, don't hem yourself in artificially, and above all, do what makes you happy.

[TrogL]

18. Listen to your heart

I knew I wasn't a teacher when my student teaching went sour, pretty much for the same issues as yours, but I stuck it out for three years until my nervous breakdown.

Go for your dreams.

For God sakes stay away from Junior High.

[grasswire]

20. how about...

....taking some kind of part time job in an architectural firm for the summer? Any kind of work. That might give you a better idea about the future.