Will’s path from engineering to bio-medicine

CHARTING A NEW COURSE

As someone with an apt and talent for science and maths, engineering felt like the natural fit for 2023 graduate, Will Auger.

As he continued down this path, however, it became clear to Will that his future needed a ‘re-think’.

“Toward the end of Year 11, I started the application process with the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA); I wanted to work on helicopters and started pursuing an aeronautical path,” said Will.

“But the more I progressed, the more I realised that maybe engineering is just what people had ‘expected’ of me; but in actual fact, wasn’t for me,” he said.

Getting curious about what the future could look like, without getting to hung up on having to know exactly, Will started to explore other options.

A continued commitment to working hard, learning from experiences and maintaining good grades kept his options open.

“I gave it a lot of thought and in the end landed on bio-medical science, with the view that I may go on to do a post grad in medicine,” explains Will.

A year and a half on and Will is currently studying bio-medicine at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ).

“There are a lot of pathways you can take within the field – there’s research options, pharmaceutical opportunities, right through to biomedical engineering where you develop technologies for hospitals to help people survive,” said Will.

“It was bio-medical scientists that made the COVID vaccine, so it’s a field that can really have quite a global impact,” he said.

“The whole experience has taught me that the opportunities are always there. And, there are so many different ways to do the same thing.

“When applying for the ADFA, for example, I thought it was now or never. But I now know that’s not the case. There are several options I could explore with the ADFA all within my current field.”

WORDS OF WISDOM

“There’s always a way to get to where you want to go. And it’s okay not to know exactly where you’re going. So long as you pursue something, you’ll learn from that experience and it will help you on your way to finding what you love.”