What do you do when you worked hard, got the degree, made the responsible choices—and still wonder whether you built the wrong life?
That is the career decision Tyler is facing.
Tyler has a degree in chemical engineering, but today she is working as a medical assistant and trying to decide what comes next. Should she go back to school for PA school or medicine? Return to chemical engineering and use the degree she already earned? Or consider something entirely different?
On paper, Tyler is doing a lot right. She earns about $52,000 a year, has no debt, and has built both savings and investments. She is not facing a financial crisis. She has something that can be difficult in a different way: options.
In this episode of Rich Life Plan podcast, we work through how to make a major career decision when there is no obvious answer.
We talk about changing careers, navigating a career transition, choosing the right career, going back to school, the financial cost of additional education, and what to do when the career you originally planned no longer feels like the life you want.
Tyler’s situation raises a question many people eventually face: How much should the degree you already earned influence what you do next?
If you spent years earning an engineering degree, does walking away from engineering mean you wasted that education? If you are interested in healthcare, is graduate school automatically the next step? And how do you know whether you truly want another degree—or are simply looking for certainty?
We also talk about the hidden cost of going back to school. Tuition is only part of the decision. You also have to consider lost income, possible student loans, and whether the career waiting on the other side will actually give you the life you want.
That is why a career change is not simply a career question. It is also a money decision, a lifestyle decision, and sometimes an identity decision.
We look at how Tyler can evaluate PA school, medicine, chemical engineering, and other career possibilities without assuming she has to find one perfect answer immediately.
We discuss how to test a career before committing years and thousands of dollars to it, why understanding the actual day-to-day work matters more than falling in love with a job title, and how talking with people already in a field can help you decide whether the lifestyle fits you.
We also talk about the pressure that comes from having a “good” degree. When you have already invested time, effort, and money into your education, changing direction can feel like quitting. But staying in a career simply because you already paid for the degree can become its own trap.
The better question is not whether your past education was worth it. It is whether the next ten years of your life should be determined by a decision you made years ago.
This episode is for anyone thinking about changing careers, going back to school, choosing between two career paths, leaving a profession they studied for, or trying to decide what to do next with their life.
If you have ever asked yourself: Should I change careers? Did I choose the wrong career? Should I go back to school? Is PA school worth it? How do I make a career change without starting over? This conversation is for you.
Career decisions can feel permanent, but your career does not have to be one straight line. Your degree does not have to dictate your entire life. And choosing a different direction does not mean the years you already invested were wasted.
Sometimes changing your mind is not evidence that you made a mistake. It is evidence that you learned something.
If you feel stuck in your career, are considering graduate school, are debating a career change, or feel torn between financial security and meaningful work, this episode will help you think through the decision more clearly.
Sometimes the question is not, “Can I afford to change my life?”
It is, “Do I actually want to keep living this one?”