When you get off the beaten path, there will always be people who will cold-heartedly remain staunchly in support of the traditional route. Individuals who sort of live by the road most taken will advocate for their way so badly that they may cast you off or shun you from their lives. This has happened to me when I first left medical school, and I imagine it’ll happen to me again as I venture into the architectural and artistic space after completing my scientific PhD, something that no peer will likely do.
Nevertheless, this very act of differentiation could lead to a rewarding professional life. Success doesn’t necessarily come from people who grind the hardest, or who tread paths that others have already forged for them; rather, success comes from individuals who can live a life that follows a logical narrative but is still sort of unique in some sense. That’s sort of where I am now with architecture. Even in my own head, there’s plenty of criticisms that can go into making such a decision: the massive financial cost even with the generous scholarship, the possibility that there’s just little return on investment (no one can predict the future), and the always present prospect of burnout entering a profession that is infamous for its cruel work ethic.
Despite all this, architecture still is the most logical option in my mind. If you consider the current federal attacks on science in the US, my sort of internal negative attitude derived from personal experience toward Western medical sciences—which I will not vocalize in this post—and the fact that I’ve never felt like I quite fit in with the students in the healthcare space: something was always just a little off. Collectively, these are perhaps all signs that it’s time to pivot. Sometimes, you have to listen to your gut.
The Ivory Tower 
Leave a comment