What path to take?

Answered

It's hard to be split between 2 careers. I had a similar dilemma--I LOVE working with children, and I thought teaching would be an awesome career. But I love plants , gardening, and floral design. I didn't know how to choose. I heard some very wise advice. Get 10 hours of experience in the field. If you love it, then do 100 hours. If 100 hours ends and you STILL love it, then keep going. Depending on what life brings you, you could end up doing this the rest of your life. Would you be happy?

I am sure you have surpassed the 10-hour part (your classes, experience with kids, etc), and it sounds like you really love both.

My advice: Keep researching both. Look at what is involved in both careers and what jobs you could have and degrees you could get. Then start looking at schools with those degrees. Once I started looking at schools, I found that the horticulture programs caught my interest (I spent a whole Saturday researching horticulture schools and didn't realize until it got dark that evening, lol), whereas the teaching program pages didn't energize me- I got bored :) I also started thinking about my life goals in general. I personally want to work towards beginning a business and educating my children myself. It didn't make sense to spend years and thousands of dollars on a teaching degree to teach other children when I would soon quit teaching to teach my own kids! I would also need training to run a horticulture related business. Why go back to school?

Obviously, I have very specific goals. I am aware that your experience is going to be very different from mine. But the reason I shared all that is to show the thought process. I, personally, have to think about the long-term results and/or outcome. I need to consider my main goals. Once I know my goals, it is easier to choose a path that heads in that direction.

Maybe there is a way to combine both interests into an impactful career. That's something to consider, too.

If you research and think and still love both career ideas, I recommend finding a school that has both. Then you may have a few options: sometimes you can do a major and a minor or double major, or you can easily change your major if you start with one and decide you like the other better. Also, know that you not only can change majors, but transferring to another school is always an option.

Hope this was a least a little helpful. Please lmk if you have any questions.