So, you've made the big commitment to us. [Yay!] ...Now what?

image from www.themodernjewler.com

The college admissions process is frighteningly like dating. You, the applicant, scope out some hot prospects to see what they have to offer. There are a lot to choose from. Some may be a bit of a reach, some may be below your personal standards, but when you're playing the admission field it doesn't serve to be too exclusive, right? [Besides, they should already know you're not looking for anything serious yet. It's way too early for that...]

Eventually, when you get a better feel for what's out there, you start "talking" to some of the most attractive prospects. You'll visit a few of them on admission dates. Some will scare you off (stage seven clinger!). Some will sweep your off your feet ("how would you like a scholarship?"). Once you're smitten with a school or two, you ask them out (or, more accurately, ask yourself in). If you're lucky, the feeling is mutual. They'll formally accept your advances and ask if you want to take it to the next level. Then comes the big decision:

Are you ready for serious commitment?

Marymount College Has Pre-Med!

I should have listened to my parents. "Go to med school," they said. "There is always demand for healthcare."
 

But I knew better, of course. So I went off and got a degree in creative writing. I wanted to learn critical thinking and analyze works by some of the greatest minds of all time. I wanted to create something that would be a lasting legacy. I wanted to avoid calculus at all costs.
 

I accomplished all of this, but the fact remains that in terms of remuneration (See, Dad? I did learn something in college), the ability to operate on a living brain beats out free-verse poetry nearly every time. After all, you rarely hear: "We need a writer, stat!" or "Is there a writer in the house?!" or "The timely intervention of the talented writer saved my life."
 

Still, though I will likely scrape by on a diet of ramen noodles and unfulfilled dreams for the rest of my life, I am very proud of my liberal arts background and feel that I received an education that ideally emphasized my strengths (And my parents are proud that at one point they saw me don a lab coat for an acting role, so everyone is at least somewhat happy). But, if only there had been some way to get both: a personalized education and a lucrative career saving people's lives—a way, essentially, to become Michael Crichton...