I'm half way through my Pharmacy degree at University. I'm not entirely sure if it's what I want to do. I don't have a dream, or something I really want to do as a job in particular. What made me pick this after highschool is the projected job stability regarding hours and employment due to the aging baby-boomers and their babies. I also wanted to do something in the health sciences field because......well, frankly speaking, I don't know. I think it might be because they're generally respected.

I don't really like community pharmacy all that much, from my experiences at placement. Maybe it's because I'm a noob and felt kind of useless, or it might be because of the age difference, and I've got no one to talk to.

Starting this year, I'll be taking Medical School Graduate Entry tests annually to keep my options open. If by my fourth year I like pharmacy enough, or am simply sick of studying, or for some reason really want some cash, I'll take the path of a pharmacist. If I'm not satisfied with were I am, chances are I'll try out a medicine degree.

Funny thing is, in high school, I took the subjects English/Maths C (most advanced/abstract maths course offered here for senior high students)/Maths B (second most advanced maths course)/Physics/Chemistry and Economics. No biology in there at all - which indicates I was more of a numbers/physics guy. Besides career paths like Pharmacy, Optometry, Dentistry and Medicine, I also listed things like Aerospace Engineering and Civil Engineering. Sometimes I do wonder if I'd be better off choosing those. Maths is, after all, my strongest point. But a bit of ego gets to me, and choosing one of the health sciences more or less was affected by the highly regarded profession factor. Having high standards for selection also made seem highly valued. After all, being hard to obtain only makes humans desire them more.

But after completing half of my course with the intention of going all the way, I can say that engineering was an opportunity cost. I'd never travel back to try it out.

Sound familiar? Probably because you've read this before:

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Frost
The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.