Mari-Lee Odendaal, an MSc student of Marine Biology. Turning points: sometimes you spot them immediately and sometimes only in retrospect. In this series, members of the WUR community describe a decisive moment they will never forget. This time, Mari-Lee Odendaal, an MSc student of Marine Biology, who was not selected for her first choice of degree subject.
‘The turning point in my life was not a crossroads at which I chose my own path. Instead, the choice was made for me. At secondary school I was interested in technology and I liked creative activities. I found a degree programme that fitted the bill perfectly: learning to design and programme digital games. But the selection was done by lottery and I wasn’t picked. That was that for the future I had in mind. I could of course have taken a gap year and tried again, but I didn’t want to put my education on pause. Since I was also interested in biology, and especially in the sea, I opted for a degree in Applied Biology.
I felt like the odd one out on that degree programme. I was the weirdo in the class who got excited about data analysis, while most of my fellow students much preferred fieldwork. When I graduated, I knew it wasn’t the end of the road for me. I went on to do the MSc in Biology at Wageningen, specializing in Marine Biology. For each period I selected the courses that interested me most. I soon detected a pattern: they were nearly all courses related to bioinformatics.
Now I have finished my Master’s and I’m looking for a job or a PhD position in marine biology, bioinformatics or data science. The latter involves visualizing data as well, which gives it a creative aspect. Exactly what I have liked ever since secondary school. So, by a roundabout route I’ve got where I wanted to be. This is not the same as designing games, of course, but when I was 17 I wasn’t aware of all the options and I had never heard of data science or bioinformatics. If I had been picked for Game Design after secondary school, I could never have combined my passion for the sea with my love of technology. I have always let myself be guided by the doors that opened for me, and I am curious to see what’s next for me.’