The Great Debate: Chem vs. Physics

I refuse to become one of those people who has to blog about every major decision before coming to a conclusion.

In the mean time...

A little background. When I was in high school, the primary goal was to get a soccer scholarship. As for what I wanted to study once I got to college? Who knew. It ranged from marketing to forensics to PT to whatever program the school had that was unique or particularly strong.

Then I got hurt, losing the scholarships that I was supposed to sign in the following weeks. Now what? O, school. Right, that thing I've been going to for the past 10 years of my life. That could be useful for something.

I somehow or another fell into Chemistry and latched onto it as the hope that would guide me through another four years of school. Which, to its credit, it was doing okay until this past semester.

I hate school. As in, the structure of school in general. I love to learn, and I tend to do better when left to my own devises and a list of people I can ask for help. Even now in classes, I learn the material...I don't memorize things. Thus I get A's in classes that ask me to think and B/C's in classes that feature tests that specialize in regurgitation techniques. Which is what chemistry sadly became last semester. And no, it wasn't just the professor, its the content.

I took Physics this year, as a good Chem student does, and found out that I loved the puzzles, the thinking, the theory. Especially quantum. I also started working in a lab in the Biomedical Magnetic Resonance division at the Med School and found that I was really interested in that sort of research, but couldn't necessarily see myself sticking with one project for my whole life.

I charted out the remaining two years of my education before picking classes for the Fall. Thanks to the new love of Physics and pressure from my research group, I designed a curriculum to take Physical Chemistry and Lab, four semesters of Quantum, Astrophysics and two more incredibly engaging labs called Radio Nuclear Chemistry and Physical Measurements.

This particular set of classes is two classes away from a Chemistry major, Inorganic and Inorganic lab, both of which I am dreading. Severely. I hate synthetic chemistry.

It is also a mere two classes away from a Physics major (E&M and mechanics). I wasnt aware of this fact until yesterday when somehow or another this all came up with Logan (as mentioned in the previous post) who promptly started pushing me towards the Physics major.

O, and the plot thickens. I bring this up with someone in my lab who said "Arent you going to the conference in Quebec next spring? How are you going to present this without a strong background in E&M? You really should take that class."

So now it comes down to this: Do I want to take Mechanics or Inorganic?

Do I want to abandon the subject (and dreams) that got me through two grueling years of dreaded schooling? Or, do I forget my excitement discovered in lab this year? Further, do I leave a department that, for whatever reason, has bent over backwards to keep me and leave it for one that was not particularly nice to me this semester and who is loosing the person who believes in me the most (Trousil is leaving!)?

I dont have to decide right now. This is something I can sit on until the end of the summer. The only changes that would be exacted for the Fall would be to drop the silly Archaeology class and pick up E&M. Which is a sharp work load increase, but its doable. Its 18 credits of classes, with 3 of them being a Theater class and another 3 of "Intro to Glass"....and the remaining 12 being Physics at heart.

Ultimately? I want to take two years off before going to grad school. Teach For America, doing ice-core research in Alaska, chasing a silly three-letter-type-agency dream, joining a Archaeological dig, hike around the Andes helping with a ethnobotanical study....something. Then grad school. For what? Imaging Sciences, Seismology, Physics, Chemistry? All of this could be done with either degree.

In the end? Its not going to matter much. Thus- I refuse to waste more than a minimal amount of energy over worry. I will graduate.

That's all that matters.