Is it normal that I'm 13 and planning my future?

I'm 13 and a half and I already know know what college I want to go to and I'm on 8th grade. I know what major I want, what profession I want and what medical school I want to go … Show more

No, there are a lot of people who do the same thing.

However, having that precise a plan sets you up for failure. You can't count on getting into your specific college and you can't count on getting into your specific med school. You can't count on your partner wanting the same number of kids that you do or even wanting to live in the area you have picked out. What if your partner is an oceanologist and can only work in certain areas, while you could get a job anywhere? ("I'm sorry, dear, but I decided when I was 13 that we're going to live in Taos. Why don't you get a second PhD in archaeology so you don't want to live near the ocean?" is not going to be conducive to having 5 or 6 kids.) You can't count on a lot of these things - and that's part of what makes life great, because you will stumble into all kinds of wonderful stuff if you are open to it instead of just grieving whenever you aren't getting the exact thing you decided years ago that you want.

We see high school seniors and college freshmen (and even sophomores and the occasional junior or senior) on here all the time saying things like, "X was my dream college and I didn't get in there, so now I'm going to Y, and I hate it. It doesn't have the kind of gothic architecture X has and it doesn't have the autumn leaves that I always imagined at my college." If they had not imagined such specific scenes of their college lives, they might have realized that they could be as happy at Y as they could at X, but because they had focused so narrowly on X they set themselves up to be unhappy if they ended up attending any other college at all. And it's not limited to that age range, either. I've encountered plenty of people well into adulthood who do the same thing.

So while I think it's perfectly reasonable and appropriate to be trying to figure out your life at the age of 13 (the kids I went to school with started much earlier than that), I strongly encourage you to imagine other kinds of happy lives for yourself. That kind of flexibility will go a long way toward making you a happier adult, and that can only be a good thing.

Good luck!

(Edited because I somehow left a word out.)

I'm 15 and I've been doing the exact same as you since I was 13 I've been saving up for university since I was 14. It's completely normal to know what you want to do and plan it out I think you're like me and just like things organised and 6 kids is a lot but if that's what you want then go ahead.

You are not normal or average you are a very exceptional person.

There's nothing wrong with planning your future. Sounds like you're very mature for your age. A lot of 13-year old have no idea what they want in life yet. However, you should keep your plans flexible. You never know, unforeseen circumstances can change your plans and course. Be willing and able to change them.