Advice for choosing a major or career path? [Choosing financially stable field b/w sciences & environmental work]

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I’m in a dilemma about choosing between natural sciences, engineering and medicine fields. I’m definitely more intrigued (ergo, better) at biology, anatomy, medicine etc. subjects. But I want to be involved in environmental work. That makes it really difficult because there are too many fields involved in that and too many niches that make it really hard to pinpoint a specific focus.

Medicine: I know it’s a wide field, but I considered pursuing med school to be a psychiatrist or pathologist. But when I think about all the years of blood sweat and tears I feel like that would leave me unsatisfied about abandoning everything even related to the environment, and that’s something I’ve always been really passionate about. Also, I need to be reliable for my family, and med school automatically means 15 years of my life I’ll be the one that needs support.

Engineering: I considered environmental engineering or civil engineering with a concentration in environmental sciences, as people said that would be more lucrative. I feel like this would make the most sense financially. Except I’m not sure how much this even is related to the environment. I know some other engineering majors such as chemical may have something related to that, but I don’t know if those are too rare or not.

Natural sciences: I know so many subjects have so many topics that go into sustainability. But I have trouble seeing what job I’ll have. PhD seems given for any subject in natural sciences, but what then? And PhD is also a sacrifice in financial stability.

If there’s anything else I can clarify to make it easier to make suggestions, I’d be glad to. Does anyone have any advice, maybe something that combines both biological concepts but is involved in environmental work as well? Or just environmental but possibly financially stable.

Uhhh this post turned out longer than expected, sorry about that.

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Medicine - you are in HS - so you have many years

Sciences or math - you have many years

Engineering - hard to transfer into and you can fall behind.

I’d start in engineering - 50% of students don’t make it in engineering and transfer to another major. That’s easier than transferring in.

And 75% of engineering students don’t work as engineers.

So life is long - and you are a HS Junior I believe - so no reason to rush picking out what you’ll do in life.

But if engineering is a possibility, best to start there academically.

IMHO of course.

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Here are some examples of environmental engineering type jobs:

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My first suggestion would be to browse the majors at SUNY ESF. You may or may not be interested in this specific school, but it’s very environmentally focused and thus offers an array of programs that are environmentally-adjacent and may give you ideas in terms of what you might enjoy academically as well as what potentially career paths the different majors could lead to: Undergraduate Programs

Engineering-wise, it’s important to understand that Environmental Engineering is closely tied with Civil Engineering - it adds a focus on environmental impact, but is still strongly oriented toward engineering physical structures. That may appeal to you, or it may not. Many different engineering disciplines can lead to environmentally-oriented jobs. As already noted, SUNY ESF’s engineering programs provide some good examples. Another very environmentally relevant engineering field is Ocean Engineering - URI’s program is a great example: https://web.uri.edu/oce/academics/ocean-engineering-b-s/ and offers amazing environmentally-related research opportunities https://web.uri.edu/oce/research/

Another important role in environmental work involves data science and GIS. Some schools have entire degree programs in this; UConn’s program is a good example: UConn GIS GIS can also make a good minor in combination with other environmentally-oriented majors.

One place where medicine and environmental work intersect is within Public Health; Environmental Health is a significant sub-field. This also overlaps with Urban Planning, if that’s of interest.

Medicine-wise, in addition to assessing whether you want to commit to that grueling path, ask yourself whether you want to be a clinician and work 1:1 with patients. Some MD’s have less patient-facing jobs, but they still have to do a lot of clinical work before they get to that stage of their careers.

As Tsbna said, engineering can be a good place to start, because it’s much easier to transition out of engineering than into it, and it can lay an excellent foundation for many career paths, with good employability even without (or prior to) grad school. The downside, if you’re interested in med school, is that an engineering major can make it tougher to maintain the near-flawless grades you’d need for med school admissions, so that’s the tradeoff. Sometimes a major like Engineering Physics can help to thread this needle - it’s a bit more basic-sciences oriented, but still allows you to specialize in an engineering field, and thus keeps a lot of grad school options open: engineering, sciences, medicine, and more. (Example: Engineering Physics, BSE < Case Western Reserve University) That’s not to say that it’s necessarily any easier to maintain a high GPA than in other engineering majors, but it does offer a bit more flexibility.

In terms of pure sciences, think about Earth Sciences / Geology as a possibility - that’s sometimes overlooked because it isn’t highlighted in HS curricula, but it can be a great way into environmental work.

Good luck - there are lots of options to look at! What year are you in now, in school?

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I would start in engineering. Engineering jobs are good jobs with good working conditions, good pay, and good benefits. You can make decent money right out of undergrad. There are many, many engineering specialties that would allow you to pursue your passion of improving the environment.

Engineering is also flexible. You can transition into teaching, academics, management, sales or policy. Most engineering majors also include classes that count toward premed requirements, so if you change your mind about being an engineer, you can change course and become a doctor (some of my medical school friends had majored in engineering fields.)

Plain old science BS degrees (biology, chemistry, physics etc.) are less employable than engineering degrees, so you often end up having to do a PhD. And being a PhD takes tons of time, the job market is super unreliable, and the pay tends to be bad.

Best wishes!

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I think you have plenty of time to decide. Look at journals, ask professionals, seek out hands on opportunities.

One branch of medicine that might interest you is environmental medicine. https://www.aaemonline.org/

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Biomedical Engineering is a way of combining an interest in engineering and medicine.

It has become so prohibitively difficult to get into med school these days no matter how brilliant you are that I’d feel guilty encouraging anyone to pursue this path.

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Thank you for such an in depth answer! I’ll look into it. I’m a junior in high school

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ooh haven’t heard of that before, thank you.

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You might want to look at this site. There are health careers of all sorts, and you might see something that blends all that you enjoy. There are tons of fields related to health care that are not “doctor” and take less years of schooling…and are fulfilling and interesting.

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What about public health with an emphasis on environmental science?

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I agree with what’s been said upthread, but you may also consider work in dietetics. Thinking about a healthy diet and incorporating foods with lower environmental impacts could be a possible route to incorporate your interests.

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OP- the career you end up in may not have been invented yet!

I think it’s too early to thread the needle on financially stable/meets your intellectual interests/meets your societal concerns.

Is there a reason you need to choose a major now?

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Yh I know, it’s not possible for one thing to meet all those anyway, just the best compromise. For the reason I feel like I’m running out of time, need to start looking at colleges and programs, and have other weaknesses to fix so the less worries I have the better. Ofc it’s not that deep, what 1 average joe does won’t change anything, just trying in case.

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There are sustainability related jobs across lots and lots of disciplines.

There are folks with backgrounds in psychology who are working to increase the rate of bottle and can returns in cities with efficient recycling capabilities. There are people with backgrounds in economics and urban planning who work with cities and airport authorities to figure out ways of getting people from city centers to airports without needing to chew up more acreage with parking. There are architects and engineers and industrial designers who create planned communities or who retrofit existing communities into more climate-friendly places to live. There are chemists who create inks and dyes so that recycled food packaging doesn’t impact groundwater, and biologists who study the reproductive systems of various living things in marshes and swamps and waterways to learn how humans can live without altering the lifespan of marine creatures. There are geologists and climatologists predicting tsunamis and hurricanes, and statisticians who create models which show towns how to make structures less vulnerable to weather events. And teams of agronomists and nutritionists who are feverishly trying to make the planets food supply more secure in light of climate change, and sociologists who help create strategies to make households in the developing world less reliant on donated food and more self-sufficient nutritionally and in their energy use.

So-- I ask again- why do you need to choose a path now? You’re going to learn about new careers every single semester with every course you take!!! So exciting, no? Why close doors now when your “forever career” may not even exist yet???

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Apply to schools with enough breadth of major (including engineering since it’s an interest) and you’ll be able to pivot no problem as things change - and they will.

And don’t forget, just because you have a major, doesn’t mean you’ll work in that major - hence 75% of engineering grads aren’t engineers. My VP of sales in the car industry was an aero engineer. One of my sales colleagues is a computer engineer.

You are not limited based on where you go or what you study in most fields.

So @blossom is correct - you needn’t determine your future today.

If I did that, after I failed at journalism, I’d have been poor and homeless. While my job isn’t unique for society, it is/was unique to me as were all the jobs I’ve had before this.

I didn’t even know they existed.

So yes, it’s nice to have a plan at some point or maybe even today, but just know that life throws curveballs and many adapt. And you need to be able to.

50% of engineers don’t finish.

I forget the stat on how many enter pre med and drop quickly and never apply to med school. And even a small percentage of people who apply to med school get in.

So flexibility, in this ever changing world, will be your best friend.

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Take your interest and Google them together and in subject of two than three and see what you find. The different combinations might lead you to investigate further different paths. Some colleges allow you to also fine tune your major to your liking. Don’t also do things for the money. Everyone wants to live well. Once you find what gets you excited, I am sure you will do well with that.

Honestly though and I can be 100%wrong here. Nothing your saying at this moment is leading me to believe that hands on medicine is your thing. Most everyone I know that are “treating doctors” really wanted to do that even from a young age. Helping other’s was part of the their being in general. Again, I can be extremely wrong here.

UIUC has an interesting program combining medicine and engineering.

I would just keep opening your mind up and look at possibilities for now. Regardless you have to do well in school and concentrate on that. But you might need a college that isn’t 100% structured so you can explore and find your fit. I think what you want to do can be exciting. I read an article about an art student that now leads an AI team after taking some Linkin online classes with no college degree. She had other skills that they were looking for. She is an prompt engineer lead with no engineering background.

I look forward to learning more about your path as the years go by.

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woah thanks for so many suggestions. I know someone who does research on bioplastics, biodegradable plastic (!!), which in itself is absolutely crazy, to make production cheaper. In chemical engineering which I thought would be the opposite of that.

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There are petroleum engineers who are working at the cutting edge of non-carbon based energy sources, mechanical engineers who are pioneers in wind and solar, and English majors who work in marketing, corporate communications, speechwriting, etc. to make the technical language understandable for investors, journalists, policy makers, etc. who are NOT engineers.

Keep an open mind!

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My daughter works for a speciality polymer company and sustainability is a key driver in everything they do. She studied chemical engineering with a concentration in polymers and material science engineering.

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