• Question: Hi I was wondering if you have ever wanted to drop out of science and not pursue it ? If you have what inspired you to continue going and not give up ?

    Asked by anon-223390 to Valerio, Sreejita, Sam, Kate, Anastasia, Adam on 15 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by anon-223296.
    • Photo: Sreejita Ghosh

      Sreejita Ghosh answered on 15 Nov 2019:

      I wanted to drop out of Science and become a musician back when I was 14 or 15years old. It was due to continued psychological torment by my school Physics teacher who ridiculed anybody who “dared” to ask a question after she had already “taught” about it. However if I had quit then (which I was really very close to) I would have let monsters like her win. Moreover my love for Science was more than the fear of Science which that Physics teacher had instilled in me. That plus my parents supporting me emotionally, was just about enough for getting me back to being interested in Science and even being confident about it.

    • Photo: Kate Winfield

      Kate Winfield answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      I was told by my primary teachers that I would never pass a GCSE or get to university. This just made me determined to prove them wrong and not to five up! I actually hated science at primary school, but loved it when I went to secondary school! I remember my first science and geography lesson and being captivated. Especially by volcanoes, hurricanes, coasts, climate change and space. Since then I knew I wanted to go into science, and I was not going to give up! I was never clever at school and was not allowed to take physics as a GCSE, which is why I ended up going down the geography route. But in the end I have my dream job as being a scientist 🙂

    • Photo: Anastasia Aliferi

      Anastasia Aliferi answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      We all have moments of doubt! During the last year of my bachelor’s in Biology, my supervisor was a very harsh person that basically told me that I didn’t have what it takes and I could never do a doctorate like I wanted. I didn’t quit, but this incident definitely made me doubt myself and even though I was planning to go straight into a PhD (doctorate) after my bachelor’s, I decided to do a master’s first in order to see how I would cope. Turns out, I had an amazing time at my master’s and met my current supervisors who are the best 🙂

    • Photo: Adam Wootton

      Adam Wootton answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      When I was young, I always enjoyed Science, but wanted to study History. I ended up studying Physics almost by accident, but thankfully had a lot of encouragement and support from my parents.

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