How did you discover what to do with your life?

i'm still aiming and we'll see if i get there...i knew from age four that i was going to be a researcher, an academic, a professor. i had a different field in mind then, sure, but the aim was the same. i picked my field by taking classes based on what i thought would be interesting rather than what my major was. i'd recommend the same. but know this. i was lucky and my "what i want to take" added up to a degree. if you spend four years aimlessly taking classes, you may not be so lucky. the last semester of my senior year i took a class on hitler and nazi germany. between that semester and my first semester of graduate school, i decided i wanted to work in genocide. now after two more years in it and a wonderful conference in sarajevo a few weeks ago, i know i've picked correctly. in my path lie hopefully a stats class this spring so i know what i'm doing, another master's, a doctorate, and hopefully a job somewhere. if at some point i end up working for an ngo or something else, i'd love the adventure.someone else suggested that you work to live, not the other way around. i think that depends on what interests you. i live for research. but never be tied to any one thing. allow adventure to happen to you and always be willing to change.

nonsense.
that's one of the magical things about the career i've chosen. in academia, it's very easy to incorporate your family into your work life. you keep limited office hours, how much "overtime" you do depends on how intensive your research is and what you're studying, classes are fairly simple to teach and t.a.s can do the grading, research trips and conferences can easily become family vacations, departments can become extended families, department and campus parties are wonderful for bringing your family to, the school year includes several extended holidays... it goes on and on. further, there's nothing to keep my family out of my office daily. also, the way publication works, there are some fairly long periods where you may be doing nothing on a given project except waiting for journal acceptance or editor feedback. it's a great time to start a new project, or just take the extra time for your family. it's a very flexible way of life, and one i greatly look forward to... just as soon as it stops costing me money.

i'm in political science. i study how genocides happen politically, international organization and intervention, international law, policy suggestions for recovery, and methodology of prediction and prevention... and so much more.right now i'm working on a recovery paper for rwanda which is intended to be generalizable to some extent.

oh come on. 50 yards is cake.also, i swear to god i thought you were 21. wtf percy?

omg. i'm wasting so much of my life sleeping!actually, what i was suggesting is that as i incorporate my family into my world of learning, by focusing on my studies and taking my family with me, i ensure their education and my best goal for them. so by focusing on my studies i am focusing on my family. when i take my children on research trips, i expose them to the realities of the world and ensure their growth as whole people prepared to tackle big problems, of which the world is always made. by having my family at department and school functions, i promote and teach social networking which will strengthen their ability to make something of themselves. by having my children in my office at work, i impress upon them the vital importance of education and at the same lucky time, show them what women are capable of. and finally, with my work centering on human rights, i demonstrate to my children the importance of working toward noble goals despite any odds and the value of human life and rights. it really couldn't be more ideal.it just seems to me that by choosing a career in learning, the best thing i can do for my family is to include them in that world.but i see what you mean. but everyone has to find money somewhere, and i just see no better way than an occupation in which i can include my children.Edited by brennakimi, : No reason given.

no, i never thought that. i'm all about efficiency. i think that depends...