Getting my arse into gear.

I think (this is a word I use an awful lot lately) I know what I want to do when I am older.

Speech & Language Therapy.

I knew I wanted to go into something that would help other people and I really wanted to go into general therapy, but after looking into that, it's not really easy to get into with the degree I am currently doing. So being a speech and language therapist looks like a pretty good option (considering part of my degree is English Language). Still not the most ideal degree for the career, but it's part of the way there. This means I will have to apply for a post-grad degree after I have finished my current course in 2015. And I can only start applying once I have my degree, so should hopefully start the training in 2016, when I am 22 (this makes me feel slightly sick, ughhhh twenties).

I was looking online for ages and eventually found a forum of students applying for the course and discovered it is a damn hard thing to get into because of limited places, apparently it is seriously competitive. So I've decided I need to get my shit together now and use my spare time wisely. I need to do voluntary work in quite a lot of settings, preferably with people who have learning disabilities or in an environment such as a nursing home where I help others. Then I need to get in touch with local S&L therapists and see if I can 'shadow' them at some point. I really need to try and stand out from other applications to the course.

I still have loads more to research, but considering I have a lot of time off uni I really need to start thinking about my future because I don't want to look back when I'm 25 and unemployed and think "Shit, Jazz, why the hell did you not use your time wisely you absolute pillock?" 

When did you decide what you wanted to become? How did you go about it?

Jazz