I was always good at math and sciences, ever since I was very little. It was just a natural fit that I would go into something that a) provided me with scholarships and b) was something I'm good at.

Opera star Isabel Bayrakdarian.

Opera star Isabel Bayrakdarian.

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I come from a family of doctors. Even my great-grandmother was a midwife. That's one of the reasons I decided I wanted to go into biomedical engineering. But, I found it extremely, extremely difficult, especially the more advanced we got in the classes and the more I realized that my passion wasn't really this.

I must admit that I also took it too seriously. In high school, I was very active in music. In my community, the Armenian community, I used to sing in church a lot. And when I entered the University [of Toronto], I said, "No, no, no, no, this is very serious now. I have to concentrate on my studies." And I almost cut back and cut out all my extracurricular activities. And you know what? That made me more miserable.

And in my second semester I said, "Enough. I need some creative outlet." I went across the street to the Royal Conservatory of Music. I said, "I want to take singing lessons."

Finding my voice

So [in] that first year of engineering, the second semester, all of a sudden, was lighter, happier and brighter because I had another outlet and it wasn't just technical things. I continued to take singing lessons on and off for the first two years. In my third year I decided to take a year off for an internship. In that year,

I finally had a regular timetable. I could take singing lessons regularly. And all of a sudden my singing went to another level.

And then I realized I was bitten by the bug: I really, really, really liked to sing. But I wasn't sure I could do it as a living and that was one of the reasons why I headed back to the third year of engineering. In my fourth year...I entered the Metropolitan Opera competition. And against all odds, I won.

What I learned

I'm happy that I took the risk because taking the path of art when you come from engineering and the technical world is a big risk. But I decided to take the risk for the simple reason that I didn't want to be 40 years old and say, "I wish I had," or "What if."

I think it must be one of the most difficult decisions that a 17-year-old or a 16-year-old has to make, about what to do in university. ... But a good start for anybody is to capitalize on what you're good at. If you're miserable in university, you're more likely to drop out or more likely to be aimless. Always keep in mind what you're good at and what you like, and hopefully find something that combines both.

—Excerpted from an interview with Christina Varga