I’ve talked a little bit about this off and on the past few years, but recently I’ve had some questions about why I got a degree in chemistry?

Since today is my birthday, I thought I would share a personal post with you!

Obviously, I love science! I’ve loved it since I was a little girl. Although it’s my passion, I didn’t always plan on being a chemist. 

The truth is, it wasn’t until I was at freshman orientation for college that I quickly chose chemistry as my degree plan!

I will tell you the story 🙂

Why I Got a Degree in Chemistry…

If you asked me at age 5 what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said a veterinarian. I loved animals to much, so I knew that’s what I wanted to be. 

My dad has his bachelors in animal science and grew up with horses and cows, so he was very knowledgeable about animal care (although his career ended up being in the nuclear industry). He showed me things about taking care of animals, read me old books from college, and the more I learned, the more I wanted to be a vet 🙂

As I got older though…

I started really liking science. I thought scientist were so cool! I would watch movies like Jurassic Park or Twister, and I would be amazed at the scientists the characters played. 

When I finally got into junior high, I realized I didn’t want to be a vet anymore. Although I still loved animals, I didn’t want to work with them as a career. I thought about some other science related degrees, but nothing really sparked my interested. 

It took a few years to find something I wanted to pursue.

Then I took a class for fun in 10th grade called Housing. We studied architecture and used a software program called Auto CAD to design our homes. It was a blast, and I was really good at using the computer software. My teacher said I would make a great architect. I decided that’s what I wanted to do in college. I also had a really great housing teacher, so she made architecture and design so much fun. I have always had a love for buildings and the history behind them, so I thought it would be a good fit.

Through the rest of high school, I pursued a path to architecture school. I applied to Texas Tech, got accepted, and even had a roommate ready to go for the fall semester. I took a tour of the architecture building the spring before graduation. I was excited about going to Tech, but something didn’t feel right in the back of my mind. I was hesitant about going to Tech and also about becoming an architect.

It just didn’t suite me!

My mom was going through some health stuff that year too and my brother was only 11 at the time. I felt guilty for moving that far away. 

I prayed for weeks about it, then at the last minute, I applied to Tarleton State.

After I was accepted there, I decided that’s where I was going to college. 

Freshman orientation started the first week in June. We had to choose a major to get signed up for classes. I waited in line until it was my turn to talk with an advisor. She asked me what I wanted to do…

Tarleton didn’t have an architecture plan, so I looked at the list of majors trying to figure out what in the world I would choose. I loved math and was good at it, but what could I do with that? I saw chemistry listed. I was good at it in high school, so I decided why not?

It is funny looking back at that day almost 14 years ago. I didn’t think about it for more than 10 minutes! God had a plan for me even when I doubted this path. 

I loved chemistry because everything in the world is based on chemistry, but there were times during college when I thought about changing my major. 

When I got married and moved to California for awhile, I thought about changing degrees multiple times. Especially when my husband became so ill. People told me I was such a good caretaker, I should be a doctor. People were amazed at my medical knowledge from years of dealing with all of my auto-immune stuff. 

I even looked into medical schools. Ultimately, I decided to stick with chemistry when I moved back to Texas.

I just felt like it was where I needed to be. 

Chemistry is a tough degree. There were years and years of tough labs, research, and classes that were so advanced, I spent months in a state of confusion. Tarleton had a rigorous program which required us to take graduate level classes too. 

The last few years of my degree, I just prayed for the Lord to see me through it because it was tough. 

The more I got into the chemistry, the more I started seeing what a lost art it was. When I was tutoring and doing academic writing, I realized how much people didn’t know about chemistry!

It is one of the reasons I started Chemistry Cachet 🙂 

So, to answer the question why I got a degree in chemistry…I had no idea why when I was 18, but I sure am thankful for it now. Getting to work with all of you is the best thing that came out of getting this degree.

Here is a picture just for fun! It was so windy when I graduated, we almost blew over! We had to pin my cap down too!

I hope you enjoyed this personal post today!

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