My greatest takeaway from this internship has been the fact that most science is greatly interdependent on other forms of science. Everything is connected, and most of the time, it’s really useful to know about these connections. On one hand, it’s really useful to know about scientific fields that are similar to yours, but on the other hand, you only have so much time to spare for learning about something only somewhat related to your field. You have to prioritize what other scientific topics you learn about, which can sometimes be really difficult.
This makes it somewhat easier than other fields to switch focuses in. If you start out doing one form of science, these connections make it easier to switch to another one, especially early in your career. This is a really big comfort, as I still have no idea what specific field to go into. I might end up choosing something I don’t enjoy, but even if I do, I can probably switch to something I’m more interested in with relative ease.
As for an actual college plan, I think I might focus on physics or chemistry if I want to go into a scientific career. I have a few directions I could go from there. I love cooking, and have always been fascinated by the chemistry of cooking, so I could do something with that. I’m very curious how the brain processes vision and sound, so I could do something similar to this internship. I also love reading and writing, so I could consider being a science writer/journalist. Either way, I think that physics and/or chemistry would be useful in all of those career paths. And either way, this internship at the Salk will really help me to be more prepared for these careers.
This makes it somewhat easier than other fields to switch focuses in. If you start out doing one form of science, these connections make it easier to switch to another one, especially early in your career. This is a really big comfort, as I still have no idea what specific field to go into. I might end up choosing something I don’t enjoy, but even if I do, I can probably switch to something I’m more interested in with relative ease.
As for an actual college plan, I think I might focus on physics or chemistry if I want to go into a scientific career. I have a few directions I could go from there. I love cooking, and have always been fascinated by the chemistry of cooking, so I could do something with that. I’m very curious how the brain processes vision and sound, so I could do something similar to this internship. I also love reading and writing, so I could consider being a science writer/journalist. Either way, I think that physics and/or chemistry would be useful in all of those career paths. And either way, this internship at the Salk will really help me to be more prepared for these careers.