I was a Psychology major for 1.5 years. I dropped out – in part because I didn’t want to have to continue through post-graduate studies before I could start working – and worked as an office clerk for a couple years. I realized there was no career path there that would get me to a point that I’d earn a livable wage, so I want back to community college. There, I leafed through the course catalogue and took electives that seemed interesting to me—one if which was Voice and Diction, which got me interested in Speech Pathology.
Once I graduated with my A.A. degree, I transferred to a Bachelor’s program in Communication Sciences. I knew Speech Therapy was not a good career goal for me within a few weeks, but I had no plan “B”, so I stayed in the program. The following semester, I had to take Audiology 101. I had never heard of Audiology before, but I knew that first day that it was the right career for me.
So I ended up in a career that required a Master’s after all. I won’t pretend that I enjoyed all that school work, but having finally found an interesting career goal made it much more palatable.
It’s more than 20 years later, and I still love what I do. The entry level degree in Audiology is now a Doctorate, and many of my colleagues have gone back to school to get the title. It is not a requirement, and so I’ve been reluctant to do it… I really never liked school work.