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Health & Fitness

Doctor's In: College Bound?

Choosing a college is important, but choosing a marketable course of study is crucial. Approach college as you would any investment to make a smart decision about your future.

High school seniors thinking about college should be filling out applications to meet university deadlines. Decent grades will get you into decent universities.  Getting the school you want is important but choosing a proper course of study is crucial. College graduates are finding a very poor job market unless they have a family business to welcome them back. Fine tuning a curriculum to make you a marketable job seeker should be your goal and drive your course of studies.

I chose health careers after bouncing around job markets with a B.A. in English. I made a decision I would follow medicine as a course of study and found a way to do it.  Once I had my license, I was never without an income and a good one at that. In addition, I had a career that I loved and found challenges every day of my working life. Even in retirement, I keep my hand in it through volunteering and a little consulting work. 

Not everyone is suited for Medicine but there are a lot of good careers out there that could be very interesting but require a little research. There are many things anyone of us can do and enjoy with a bit of training and that all important certificate. When in doubt when starting college, simply take two years of liberal arts. Courses will include, English, foreign language, math and the sciences.  Two years of that will help determine interests and a readiness to get serious about education.

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Should you find yourself in an unhappy course of study, change it. That goes for careers too.  At 43 years of age, I became a licensed physician after a number of jobs that were unrewarding to me. Of course, that required going back to school.  Looking back, leaving dull unsatisfying jobs was the best decision I ever made, even though it took a long time to get my career on track.

Approach college as you would any investment. Carefully consider the program you will take, look at the potential job market as a graduate, consider the cost of this investment, and make a very important decision, your course of study! I always told my children, go with your strengths when developing your skills. Also realize that opportunities abound in Technical schools and other training programs. College is just one of a number of avenues to a well paid and successful career. 

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These are not easy decisions but if you take the time to sort out how to move forward and remain flexible, your chances for success are greatly improved.  Good Luck!!!!   

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