Expectations of taking paths in life

chrissb8

I'm watching videos on youtube about Asian high school students and the exam pressure they come under to get into a good university.

It got me thinking about Ireland and how so many people when younger have pinned themselves to getting to a certain college or getting certain points.

What's your experience with this?
Did getting your dream course/university/college become a dream fulfilled?

Maybe, even going further a job or a career you thought was suited for you only for years later to turn around and think no?

Why so and how do you feel in hindsight about this pressure that people put on themselves, or maybe from parents or other influences like society?

Is it more important to find success early and worry about happiness later?

Gregor Samsa

I got my dream course (Fine Art Painting), but had absolutely no idea what career I wanted after that. Luckily I graduated just at the start of the Web becoming big, and fell into Web Development, and from there over the years into management.

I was fortunate that there was never any pressure on me at all. I did quite well in the Leaving, but at the time, Fine Art didn't require any points, just a portfolio. So I was very lucky that my getting the course relied mostly on my talents rather than hard work.

I actually got Science in Trinity in the CAO after my leaving, and hadn't applied to art college (my school didn't teach art, and I sat it in the Leaving as an extra subject I just took on my own). After accepting the course and paying a hefty deposit, my parents let be back out of it to go and do a portfolio preparation course in a VEC for a year, to see if art was what I wanted to pursue. It was and I did.

I've since done a Masters and other qualifications in digital media and development, and I worked very hard and got top results, but that was all on my own terms.

My Dad was a scientist and college lecturer, and 3rd level education was very important to him, but he never put me under any pressure at all to take any particular direction. Once I applied myself to whatever it was that I decided to do, my parents were perfectly happy and supportive.

In contrast, there was a guy in my class (all the way from Primary though to the Leaving) who's mother decided that he was going to become a Doctor when he was about 5. His whole life was structured in order for this to happen, from the hobbies he was allowed enjoy to the constant grinds he was subjected to. The mother would talk about it openly to my mother and anyone else that would listen. He did become a Doctor, but he also lost out on most of his childhood and teenage years. I'm sure he's happy, probably done quite well for himself. But I wouldn't have changed my path for anything.