Need help choosing my major. What pays more?

I LOVE cooking. I've cooked almost everyday since I was 13, I'm 16 now. I am the one who cooks the entire Tanksgiving meal by myself every year. On the other hand, ever since I was like 5 I've always wanted to be a doctor. Recently I've decided on pediatrics, but instead wanted to cut it short to Nursing because I want to get a head start on starting a family. I'm Roman Catholic and believe in having big families and I don't believe in contraception, but I want to get married in my twenties and start a family. Anyway, I guess I could just use some guidance and/or some advice. My choices are:

Baking/Pastry Arts
Pediatric Nursing
or
Pediatrcis MD

Thanks :)

If you want to get married in your 20's, wait till the 11th month of your 29th year. ;-)

If your 16, you should be a Junior,(a guess on my part) so... have you ever earned anything less then an A in Chemistry this year and Biology last year? If those two made you break a sweat, then investigate culinary school or your local nursing college.

If your chemistry course is no joke and your knocking down the A's, look into you MD.

PS: Family is great, but what's rush...live and learn a bit more about yourself! That opinion aside, I admire your goal setting and concern for your future.

Is it really all about money?

any health profession pays the most.

like nursing or doctor

be a Cardio Vascular Thoracic surgeon.. the payment ROCKS !!

now coming back to cooking.. i've no idea what's good.

go after your law degree

If you want to have a large family and have it soon, you should consider how difficult it might be to work a full-time (plus extra time) job with a whole family at home. Don't forget the hubby! If you take more classes in baking that'll give you more experience for at home too. And anything in medicine will be a great benefit also. I think pediatrics would be more rewarding than cooking, though.

Your best choice would be something that you love doing and pays decently. The best paying job in the world is bad, if you hate going to work everyday. This is one of those lessons that life often teaches you!

You shouldn't base this decision solely on money. You said you want a large family, so I would base your decision on what would be best for a mother's schedule.

Obviously a career in medicine will pay more, and doctors are more in-demand than pastry chefs. Another thing to consider is how commited are you to your career? Culinary Art degrees take 2-4 years, whereas M.D.s can spend up to 10 years in school/residency.

Go for the cooking! That's what you love - money is not eveything.

I know too many people who make decent or great money but are so unhappy with their career.

My advice is to persue the area that gives you the most joy.

After awhile "good money" means nothing if you are stressed out and not enjoying your work.

Not only that it will affect the quality of your work and that wound be unfair to those you serve.

probably better to be a pastry artist. when you're a nurse and you give birth, wouldn't it be kind of weird seeing your coworkers helping you deliver the baby?

omg gal.. i'm catholic. starting a big family is gr8 if u are first urself. to have an harmonic relationship with others and take care of others u need to grow up to be ur own person first.. (secondly. that.. big family thing was in the first century when there was a need to poblate earth, now if u want a big family u can go adopt some of those dying kids in africa)-- but i would study medicine.. coz u gotta be the best of u wanna be

You don't need a degree to be a chef, I'd try this first then go to school while being a chef for pediatrics if it isn't what you hoped it be. You are sooo young, you might change your mind again while going through school anyway.

To be quite frank with you, what's the point of getting a degree in anything if you're not going to use it? If you really want a big family like you say then you're going to stay home, have to make a ridiculous amount of money for babysitting or just be broke. You're not going to be a doctor and be able to start a family like that. It'll be a long time before you're done with school and if you have kids before you're done then you probably won't finish. You better hope that your husband, boyfriend or babys daddy makes big $$ if you want to live like that. I'm not trying to be mean, but you can't always have your cake and eat it too. If you want a family, then focus on finding a good man to support you and the kids. It you want a career then find a good school and don't get pregnant till you have a good job. Good luck either way.

I would suggest you go for the highest level of education you can, at an early age. If you don't, you will quite likely look back with regret and wish you had.

For example, if you want your kids to have a nice standard of living, then go for the doctor. Nurses are never paid well, and with more money, you will have more choices. You could do the baking at an evening class, or keep it as a relaxing hobby.

You have probably heard this loads, and probably don't listen to it, but at 16 you are still quite young to be thinking about planning your family. Although it is sensible to PLAN this, and also, nice to be a young mum, I would definitely get your career in place first, then think about a family. I guess its down to where you prioritize things.

Good luck with whatever you do.

The best advice I can give you is to take your time. At 16, you don't have to make a concrete decision on a major. Honestly, there are a zillion graduates out there that will tell you that they changed their major at least twice (while in college), before settling on their ideal profession.
Secondly, it's NOT about the money. You MUST be passionate about whatever you choose. This is a choice that you will have to live with day-in and day-out for the rest of your career, so make sure you think about that. In 15 years, you'll need to wake up in the morning and WANT to go to work; therefore it'll have to be a career that you love.
Many have been caught up in what they believe to be an ideal career choice, merely because the paycheck is great. What they soon discover is that all of that money comes at a very high price physically, mentally and emotionally. Slow down. . .you have plenty of time.

I wanted to be a pastry chef too! but I chose Internatinal Travel/Hospitality instead. Well its hard to say. In the culinary world anything is possible. It depends on where you work at in terms of a five star resort, or a restaurant or you have your own wedding cake buisiness or whatever. If your a docotor it takes over 8 years of school and training. If you want to do pastry arts you can go to school for two or four years. Usually most chefs just get a two year degree very few schools offer 4 year degrees. Such as the American Culinary Institute in Hydepark upstate NY. Chefs jobs can be creative, fun, and a little stressful at times. Being a doctor pays good money but its often stressful, you work very long hours, and your on call 24/7.It would probably cost you a lot more money to for a degree to be a doctor. Also you should do what you love. Doing what you love pays off a lot more than just doing a job that pays a lot of money. I personally think you should be a pastry chef. You would be happy doing what you love. If you want to look up culinary schools go to www.shawguides.com they have lists and info of culinary schools in the U.S and abroad. Its a good website. A very good culinary school to go to for pastry arts is the French Culinary Institute in NY and there is a Pastry Arts school in Chicago except they dont have housing. Also Johnson and Wales in Road Island and in Charlotte NC is a very good school. Good luck!