Sofia graduated this year from the 1st grade of the 1st High School of Thebes. Her favorite subjects are Ancient Greek, Chemistry, and Physics, while she also enjoys Physical Education a lot. “That's why I'm quite confused!” she explains, referring to her diverse interests. “I'm torn between the theoretical path and the health sciences. Regarding the theoretical path, I'm considering Law, and from the health sciences, military Dentistry—two schools that provide a strong degree with many prospects”.
Her doubts and varied interests are not something uncommon among her peers. “Many of us are conflicted or may not know the prospects that a profession has”, she explains and continues, "The Tipping Point gives us the opportunity to understand what we can do, which school we can go to, and our own interests."
Continuing on our discussion, Sofia narrates her first impressions of the program. “I was very excited in the first live group session! They told us it would be with a doctor who was practicing general surgery (...). I had already prepared questions because I'm thinking about some surgical specialty in the future”. Her classmates were also enthusiastic. “My classmates were very engaged, meaning we had all prepared our questions”. She explains that the mentor was very informative and answered all the students' questions. “He shared a lot of information with us, like that it's a very open profession in the sense that you can work anywhere with this degree." “He was very kind and very willing to interact with us”. The participants were so enthusiastic that they asked for a second session with the mentor, as Sofia recalls.
One live group session that stood out to Sofia was with a mentor who, although he had completed the Icarus School (Hellenic Air Force Academy), he later on opted for a more academic path. “What he told us was very realistic; he grounded us, and rightly so!” she says, explaining that through this discussion, she was able to better understand the prospects, difficulties, and opportunities that this career choice would bring, and it helped her to reassess her personal desires. She also points out that these sessions prompted her to seek more information, even outside the framework of the program and school. "I sat down and researched it on my own afterward because it's very important for me to know what prospects something has later on."
The number of choices might be overwhelming, but part of that anxiety wanes when students are shown that not only is there a lot of wiggle room regarding the trajectory they choose, but plenty of room for corrective steps along the way . As Sofia reviews "I learned a lot about the professions and their prospects, but also that you can graduate in a study field and end up doing something completely different, because nowadays all professions are very broad”.
