What to wear...What to eat...Who to work for...What theme to do a master thesis on?
I did very well on my oral exam today in the course "Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Analysis (EIA & SEA)". After telling me my grade on the exam, the professor (of the Environmental Planning dept.) said that he likes to make his good students aware that they can do paid research for his department on a path to doing a thesis. Sound familiar?
Well, now I have to decide where specifically my interests lie. It's easy to not even consider some subjects/departments because I know for sure that I'm not interested. But, the areas of "Soil Protection and Recultivation" and "Environmental Planning" are similar enough to make the decision difficult.
When I try to give people advice on decisions, I usually try to get out from them the positives and negatives of their options and what their intuition says 'feels' right. Maybe with your help I can talk myself through this decision.
The department of Soil Protection and and Recultivation (SPR) focuses on technical scientific research whereas the Environmental Planning (EP) department tries to make scientific results usable in practical management contexts. SPR would deal a lot with chemistry whereas EP would deal with social systems. SPR deals specifically with soil (lithology, hydrology, biology, air, humans) whereas EP goes beyond that to the level of how to deal with the soil practically. But it's not like SPR isn't practical. The knowledge is being gained in order to hopefully improve practical applications. Each path has a negative attritute. The SPR professor does not give his students any guidance and attention (a fact supported by yet another person). The EP department focuses a lot on Climate Change. But each path also has a positive attribute. Through the SPR department I could have the potential to understand the details of soil even better. A big positive about the EP department is that its study interests fit perfectly with my lifelong interest in understanding the Earth-Human relationship and figuring out how to put them in the most harmony.
This decision reminds me of when I was trying to decide whether to study Geography or Geology at Calvin College. I made the decision to study Geology because I wanted to have a solid background in the technical side of the environment before I pursued the social side later in my life. I wonder, has "later" come and I should begin honing my synthesizing skills? The answer always leads back to the question people have been asking me all my life, "What do I wanna be when I grow up?" I could probably get my dream job no matter which path I choose, so I need to pick the one which makes me happy now.
Reading through what I've written, it looks like I'm leaning a certain way. Do you feel it too?
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Congrats on doing well on your oral exam and the offer for a paid research position. Again, that was nice of him to offer it to you. Decisions, decisions. That's a tough one. Both sound like something you would be interested in.
ReplyDeletePersonally, it sounds like you are leaning towards the EP, but then again, it could be you are still wanting to learn more about the basics, so the SPR department sounds right. Hmmm. Hard decisions. I like the positive attribute you gave to the EP department, that it "fits perfectly..." That should tell you something. And the fact that the SPR prof doesn't help at all is a downer. But, as in all of life, only you can make the decision for yourself what will make you happiest in the long run. Remember, I've always said, you'll be happy in life if you are happy in your daily job. (And p.s., you made a mention about the SPR using chemistry. You hate chemistry. Just a thought.)
Sleep on it, dream about it, pray about it, and hopefully the "right" answer will come to you. Good luck.
So for the longest time, I forgot that you had a blog and just remembered last night. Hey look! I'm a follower! Don't get a big head about it or anything. ^_^
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