Chirag Patel

Genogram Summary

03/24/15

The Genogram Project allowed me to study the career paths that my family has taken and
understand what career trends exist in our bloodline. In the earliest generation with my
grandparents, a lot of career paths were shaped by their ability to afford an education. My
maternal grandparents never had the opportunity to pursue higher education when they were in
India. Therefore, my maternal grandmother became a housewife to take care of my mom and her
brothers while my grandfather toiled to provide food and money for the family. Once my father,
mother, and my aunt and uncles moved to the United States, they were able to afford an
education and have a wider choice in career options.
Some family values that are seen throughout many generations in my Genogram is the
role of women as a caretaker for their families. My maternal and paternal grandmothers were
housewives their entire lives. They did not pursue higher education, nor did they find a career to
adhere to. This is likely due to the fact that when my grandmothers where raised in India, the
culture and societal expectations taught them that women are typically the caretakers of the home
and children while men went out to work and earn money for the household. This family value
has ceased to exist with future generations; my mother received a BS in Biology, my aunt
received a BS in Accounting, and my sister is going to receive a college education. My mother
choose to be a housewife because she wanted to raise me and my sister instead of using day-care
services. After my sister and I began to attend school, my mother continued to be a housewife
since my dad was providing a steady income for our family.
An interesting, adaptive nature that seems to run in the family is the interest in science.
My mother and her brothers studied chemistry, physics, and biology while my father and
grandfather were both engineers. I believe this has had a big impact on my career interests
because my family members would always talk about scientific work. In particular, my maternal

Chirag Patel

Genogram Summary

03/24/15

uncles were always asking me to call them if I ever wanted to talk to them about pursuing a
science education in college. Their encouragement is probably one of the reasons I felt safe and
secure when choosing to major in Biology and Chemistry. Majoring in the sciences has been
adaptive for my family because it has provided many of them with a great job that they enjoy
talking about with other people.
This information is valuable to me as I begin to think about my career options when I
graduate. I have many contacts in my family who have similar educational experiences in the
sciences like I do. Many members in my familysuch as my maternal unclesalso have job
positions that are interesting to me, so I should begin to network with them in order to obtain
opportunities to job shadow.
A skill that have been passed on from one generation to another is the position of being a
housewife. I spoke to my paternal grandmother about the housewife trend seen in the Genogram,
and she said that even her mother was a housewife. I think this trend will eventually cease to
exist in my family since my sister is pursuing an education to have a professional job. Although
my mom is a housewife, she does have an education, and my aunt obtained an education and is
not a housewife. This trend will eventually phase out since my family has transitioned from
living in Indiawhere women are encouraged to stay at hometo Americawhere women and
men are encouraged to enter a career path. Another important skill that seems to have been
passed on to each generation is a love for science. Starting with my paternal grandfather, sciencebased careers have shown up in each generation of my family. I think that trend will continue to
occur because everyone who has entered a science field loves to talk about their job.
With this new information, I am going to contact my maternal uncles and talk to them
about how they used their science education to eventually work in the healthcare field. Since the

Chirag Patel

Genogram Summary

03/24/15

medical field is typically a tough, competitive field to enter, contacting them will allow me to
understand what medical schools look for in competitive applicants. Ill also learn more about
the specific programs of the medical schools that they went to, which can initiate my search in
medical schools that will be a good fit for me.
The Genogram has helped me identify other areas of exploration. My aunt pursued a BS
in Accounting and then went into hotel management. She is successful and enjoys her job since
she works with a team and tries to help her guests in the hotel in away way possible. Since I am
interested in social work and the sciences, I might find it beneficial to talk to my aunt and see
exactly how she works with people in the real world and how she strives to achieve customer
satisfaction.
The Genogram project has helped me identify overall themes in education and career
choices in my family. This information has empowered me to learn more about their interests
since many of my family members have careers that are interesting to me. I have also noticed a
trendsuch as the role of housewifethat is beginning to phase out of my familys career
options. The underlying themes behind my familys career choices have led me to look towards
them for guidance and suggestions as I begin to see what options I have in the world of work.