[rumples]

Hi, im currently a senior in high school and am contimplating my major. I either want to go into nursing, sign language interpreter or be a photographer. I love them all so much so im kind of stuck on picking my major and would like some opinions...

thanks all <3 rumples

[Irine]

Do you have a college which has both? You can always try to study them at the same time - less courses of this and less courses of that (than you would take if you studies only one of them) and after a year or so you might see what you like more. Under the pressure of college - you see more of how work might look to you. I know it after radically changing my mind during college years.

[rumples]

The community college in my town offers photography and nursing but not sign language. I'm so not ready to grow up lol

[OurLadysTears]

I’m not sure how well the photography field is fairing, but I work in the health field (not as a nurse but closely with nurses) so I can give you a bit of an insight on that. In a hospital setting, nursing can be pretty stressful work, but you also encounter very interesting cases on a daily basis, you learn a lot, and if you want to further your education you have a lot of different routes to choose from. It can also pay very well. The downside is that there are many people going into the nursing field and the waitlist can be long (we are talking about years!) The upside of going this route is that you could also take sign language courses too and that could benefit you on the job. So as a benefit, you could somehow intermingle both interests in a sense.

[rumples]

thanks guys for all your inputs!

[Perna]

Photograph nurses learning sign language?

That's sort of not a bad idea; schools have catalogs and brochures, you could work for ad agency that specializes in such? http://www.oaklandschoolsfoundation....hool-brochures, print or online; maybe special schools? http://www.gallaudet.edu/

I don't know; they all sound like fine choices. What do you envision for yourself for each? I would talk to people in each vocation and see how well your vision and desires match what they tell you their jobs are actually like?

[lad007]

Well I know people that went to school for both, and the nurses have jobs, and the photography majors can't make a living and have student loans. You could be a nurse with a guarantee of a job, and do photography as a hobby if you really like that also.

[Inedible]

Just to complicate matters, I think you can become a Certified Nursing Assistant in less than a year. It pays less than being a Nurse, but it gives you something you can do part time while in college. If you are really lucky you could just do it during summers and on winter breaks.

Isn't sign language for the most part a certification thing, too? And then you just need to find opportunities to practice it.

[Oxidopamine]

One of the aspects I considered in picking my majors is the job demand and job security. There is a fairly high demand for nurses and depending on the level of your degree (i.e. community college vs Master's in nursing), you'll have differing opportunities. I don't do much at all in photography so I assume it's similar to music in that only the best make a lot of money, while others make either low income or medium income. I have no idea about sign language interpreters, however, it seems be a good facet for certain jobs, such as special education for teaching deaf or blind children, working in audiology or otology, etc... . I suppose it can be used for other areas just I cant think of any others as I know very little on the subject.

In my view, I would say nursing has the greatest chance for success and learning sign language can be a useful add on, with photography as a hobby to pursue outside of work. I did some research while in my undergrad involving audiology and otology (hearing, hearing disorders and hearing devices). Since many clients or patients have some degree of hearing loss, it would be useful to know some sign-language, although at least in Canada, there are very few places for becoming certified and earning a Master's in audiology. Otology is a field of medicine, so you'd have to get into medical school or perhaps as a specialized type of nursing.

[Yoda]

My exhusband is a photojournalist and he works for AP as well as doing some freelance work. Unfortunately AP is not giving him as many assignments as he would like. No real financial security in photography as a main profession.

Nursing has better job security and more directions you can go with a bit of experience. If you like science that may be the way to go.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Honestly, I would pick nursing. It's got the most job security and the most flexibility because you can work in so many settings doing so many things. You can also take sign language classes and be an interpreter for your patients...just my opinion.