Stuck, needing advice, what would you do?

From what you described, we are in the same exact boat. I’m a senior in college studying CSD with a concentration in Audiology. Everything I’ve done so far in college has been to bolster my resume for my AuD, but I realized towards the end of my Junior year that I really couldn’t see myself becoming an audiologist, as I took into account the poor debt to income ratio, poor pay for what they do, and very little opportunity for upward mobility. Upon this realization, I also realized that I was interested in pursuing a career in information systems because of how endlessly versatile, creative, solutions-oriented, and (let’s be honest) financially promising the field is. I’m also minoring in geographic information skills, but I feel the knowledge I have in that area is kind of niche and insufficient when it comes to qualifying me for a career in IS. I’ve also started a Google certificate to help bolster my knowledge in the field, but I also feel like it’s still not enough to land me a job. Hence, why I am wanting to pursue a MS in information sciences. Anyways, I’ll stop rambling about myself. Let’s talk about you!

From what I’m reading (and please feel free to correct me if I’m making a false assumption), you seem to have already made your mind up about Audiology. You don’t really want to get your AuD for the reasons you listed, but the sunk cost fallacy is keeping you in consideration of this path. You may feel like you have spent you time focusing on Audiology when you should’ve been focusing on something else (like information systems), but these fields are not mutually exclusive! Think about how you can apply your knowledge in acoustics, phonetics, psychology, disability studies, child development, neuroscience, etc. in ways that are relevant to information sciences! This may look like shifting focus to learning about acoustic machine learning algorithms for language recognition. Maybe this looks like leveraging your knowledge to create good and accessible UX/UI design. Maybe it looks like designing an app to better help people with hearing loss or speech disorders! Basically, I’ve found that with information science, there are endless ways to apply your knowledge.

So yes!!! Apply to an information science program and also access learning resources about the field in the meantime. Also apply to audiology programs if you would like, but don’t let the sink cost fallacy dictate your decisions and don’t give up on this new passion of yours. We’re still so young and are lucky enough to have the opportunity to change our path in life. Keep your head up :)

/r/audiology Thread