Choices.
I read an article recently about how people make choices, and that we never want to choose something that shuts us off to other options. I feel this so strongly in choosing how to specialize in the Ph.D. program. We need to pick 3 areas of specialization, and somehow committing with them involves an overwhelming number of maybes and what-ifs. What about faculty advisers? The areas should match people I will have on my dissertation committee. What about future jobs? The areas are going to send me down certain paths and not others, which will shut off some job options.
How to choose? What criteria to use? One person told me to think of it as “what conversations do you want to be a part of?”. Do I want to be in government advising on education policy? Or in academia developing theory and advancing knowledge in my area? I could see both of these being viable options for me.
But the contingencies are not the point in a way. Making the choice is. Because I can’t have it all, no one can. And by choosing, I’ll then open up other options and new avenues for choice. A door will close but 3 might open. If I’m choosing based on what I care about, want to study, am really interested in, then the rest will follow, right?