Background info
A large reason for why I came to UW was for the outdoors. But for my first 2 years, I didn’t have a car which made accessing the outdoors very difficult. This was frustrating for me, but ultimately led to me pursuing a more academically rigorous path because I was restricted to the campus life. I came in to Washington wanting to major in ME so I could find a fun career designing high performance mountain bikes but after 2 years I decided I wanted to pursue higher education for my newfound ambitions in neural engineering. My grades were not high enough to get me into bioengineering, but biophysics was still a viable option for getting me into grad school in my desired field.
Where I am at
School
Because of the scheduling of physics courses, it made sense for me to take summer courses again in order for me to graduate on time. I had a 2-week break before summer classes began and I felt refreshed and ready to learn. Unfortunately, the physics classes that I am taking now (intro QM and mathematical physics) are boring me to death. I KNOW that these subjects should be interesting but I find the style of instruction plain and unmoving. Come to think of it, the past 3 physics classes have felt the same way to me. I am finding the courses too theoretical and lacking in demonstrations.
Last week I strongly considered turning physics into a minor and going for a more biology based major such as neurobiology. The Nbio major is close knit, lab based, and very applicable to my desired field, I just need to network my way in.
Not school
I got my first car at the beginning of summer and have been loving the freedom that it has given me. I have finally got to explore Washington and mountain biked in some really cool places. I have been tending to let planning my weekends take more of my attention than studying for school. This is because I am finding what I do on my adventures more valuable than what my physic classes are teaching me.
In my free time during the week, I try to learn how to play guitar, program an Arduino, learn about my car, learn about computational neuroscience, research brain computer interface companies, train for muay thai, and lastly, spend time doing introspection. I find that my 2 physics courses are distracting me from making serious progress in my hobbies and I am further growing to resent the physics major for that.
The new sense of freedom that I have is making me realize how much fun I was missing my first 2 years. I forgot how much I loved being outside and on my bike. Now I am considering going back to my roots, sticking to what I always liked – adventure sports.
_Where I am headed
I am worried that if I choose neural engineering, it is going to consume my life and not give me enough time to explore and do the sports and hobbies that I love. I am afraid of being stuck inside of an office or research lab when my body is in peak physical shape, wasting my youthful years.
For this reason, I want to find out if there is a way to combine both my specialized interest in the brain and my outdoor hobbies into something marketable that I can make a comfortable living off of. If it is possible then I would fully focus my efforts on achieving it. If not, then I would need to reevaluate and find new career prospects.
In order to figure this out, I will need time and limited distractions. I am considering taking a break from school for what would be my junior year until I figure what I want to do. I think an interesting part time job in Seattle and enough time to do personal research would be ideal for me to focus on what I want to do with my future.
I have been told not to be in a rush to graduate, and I think what I am setting out to do is following that advice. I have a lot of decisions to make and I want to be sure that I make the right ones.
does this sound rational? I would appreciate any feedback on what you think of my plan. Feel free to comment if you can relate in anyway.
Thanks.