What the cell am I doing here?

[clubsandwedge]

Hello there, (No, I'm not here to promote my drugs like those spambots, this is just a friendly introduction with a couple of questions)

I'm a student of 16 and as of recent have uncovered a great deal of passion for Biology in general, particularly the taxonomic aspects of it.
Being absolutely clueless as to what I should or want to dedicate my life to, I figure I should go to college, earn an undergrad degree in Botany, and a masters. After earning a masters degree, a great deal of science courses will recognize you as a 'graduate', and your high-school education or 'diploma' (The information in sub-parenthesis is not really important [In Ireland, it is a points system of 0 - 600 based on assessment of end-of-course tests on six subjects. Thus, each subject having a potential 100 points]) is not as important anymore.
This then leaves me open to another large area of education, and 'undergraduate courses'. The prospect of this fills me with joy.

My first question is: Do you think this is a good idea?




Now,

Can anybody recommend a way of getting into botany with a hands on approach (Plant-cultivation, journals, comparisons of species) ? For some reason, after reading 40 pages into the origin of species (I'm a slow reader) I was more captivated by the work of a naturalist like Darwin, than his actual discoveries (I have a basic, um, grounding).

[MrMistery]

Buy a college-level intro botany book and start reading it. There really is no way to determine if you really like something other than actually doing it.
And it is true, once you have a masters or a phd nobody cares what you did in high school. But you need good grades in high school to get into a good college and good grades in college to get into a good grad school, hence totally slacking off in high school might not be such a good idea.

[clubsandwedge]

Buying a college-level book is a great idea.
Well, I don't totally slack off. I just don't think I need to aim as high as medicine anymore.
Cheers.