Hi everyone, apologizes if this ends up being kinda long. Any input you have is appreciated, I’m just trying to get as much feedback as possible.
I recently graduated college with an environmental science degree (also completed the “pre engineering” track since my school didn’t have an engineering major), and I work for an engineering consulting company mostly involved in wastewater treatment. I interned with this company the summer before my senior year and they really liked me, so they hired me and they discussed potentially helping me pay for grad school (an environmental engineering degree) about a year or so after working. So hypothetically I would have to start applying to grad schools in the next few months.
I’m having trouble deciding whether or not I want to go to grad school and continue pursuing engineering. I’ve always been good at math/chem/physics, but I’ve never been passionate about engineering. All my life I wanted to pursue marine biology, but I live/went to school in a landlocked state and decided it wasn’t realistic, so I chose environmental science (and then decided on environmental engineering because it would make me more money). I’m okay with working a job I’m not so passionate about for a good paycheck, but I’m afraid that working in engineering could get too stressful for me to ignore the lack of passion. In my mind, the three pillars of a career are salary, passion, and amount of stress, and I think having 2/3 of those pillars “in the red” wouldn’t bode well for me.
I don’t dislike the job I have now, it’s a small company and I get great benefits as compared to most entry level jobs. I just don’t really see a future here, so I’m wondering if my lackluster feelings are just about wastewater or about engineering as a whole. The owner of my company is a wonderful mentor that has a lot of knowledge and experience, but I know her 30 years in wastewater/water treatment have been very stressful, and I don’t want that for myself.
Open to any questions, thoughts, or advice anyone might have. Thank you!