Students selecting career path and college—the medical practice metaphor

A very short story

The students who study medical science in the college in India spend:

  • Four to five years in learning anatomy, clinical rotations, lab experiments, and in scientific papers to map research to the applied use cases
  • Countless hours practicing on cadavers and simulations

Before they get a chance to treat a real patient.

But we are fine with sixteen year old students to plan and perform surgery on their own futures with:

  • Zero or very limited self-knowledge training
  • A few days of doing Google search
  • Spending time on ChatGPT for advice
  • Unstructured discussions with family, friends, relatives, and others because there are no decision models or data to support their discussions
  • A one-hour careers counselling discussion where they have to think in binary—yes or no

The irony?

And we wonder why a large percentage of students want to change their major after getting into the college. This is because they were operating blind.

Their career decision has longer-lasting consequences than many surgeries. The decisions impact the whole family, and sometimes their network as well.

One approach uses flight simulators before the pilots enter into cockpits. The other approach encourages— ‘learn it while you are airborne.’

This is not to compare the career path and college selection process with the medical science study and practice, but we see the context and the bigger picture of how precision, preparedness, and due diligence are so important for the students and their families and loved ones.

Your investment in the kid's career and education as big as your investment in buying a new house, in a business, or in a relationship

We offer a 15-minutes complimentary consultation to discuss your family’s and the student’s thoughts and your questions. This is not a quick career counselling exercise for the student, this is much deeper. Write to us at [email protected] or share details in this short form.