I know that deciding what you want to do with your future after college can be excruciating. Everyone is looking to you to make the right choice and pick your life. Do I want to start working right away? What if I want to travel? Do I have enough competitive drive to work at an agency? Students are told everyday about the many choices they have, but what people don’t understand is that students are scared to death, that’s why we wait.
I feel like I just started at my University and now I am heading into the competative communications field. I have been in school for so long, I long to travel. I want to continue my education, but I can’t afford it. The pressure to make decisions can be overwhelming and if you’ve felt the beads of sweat trickle down your face thinking about it, I am right there with you.
Someone once told me that success is making lots of mistakes and learning from them. If that means bad job after bad job until the right one comes along, I hope success makes it my way quickly. Students have such a short amount of time to decide what to do with their future and have such high expectations thrust upon them, I can see why so many of us join the Peace Corps, backpack through Europe and loose themselves across the globe. We need to get away from the structure, the expectations and the pressure to live the “American Dream.” For those of us who can afford to do so, I wish you the best. For those of you who are over $20,000 in debt like me, I feel for you.
The only message I can leave with you before graduation creeps its way into our lives is do what works best for you. If you are in debt, but want to travel, get a job abroad. If you want to go to grad school, but can’t afford to do so, look into becoming an RA where they pay for your housing and sometimes tuition. If you are ready to enter the workplace, continue to set seasonal goals like you did in college; its familiar and helps you grow as a professional. The only person you need to please is yourself. As much as society, our parents, professors and peers expect us what to do, repeat that mantra to yourself and do what works best for you and your goals in life. Good luck.
* I really want to work abroad after graduation here is an article on doing so. I can’t just take off and travel because I have student loans to pay. Click here and visit a link on how to find a job abroad after graduation. Have fun!
Hello! Great post. I completely agree about the option of working in student housing. I am a partner in a national student housing firm called Campus Advantage (http://www.campusadv.com). We manage on and off campus student housing around the country.
Both undergraduate and graduate students find that positions as CAs (Community Assistants) can not only be a good way to take care of expenses, but also gain some tremendous real world experience as peer leaders, providing resources, referrals, crisis management, along with business sense with marketing, leasing, sales, and even budgeting responsibilities.
Most RA/CA positions don’t provide tuition, but graduate assistantships can be very helpful in that way. I had my graduate school tuition and rent covered working as a Residence Hall director.
One bit of advice is not to enter into one of these positions without some serious thought and consideration. While they are among the very best experiences you can get as a student, they also are time consuming and challenging positions. If you do it “just for the rent”, you’ll likely not feel it is worth it, and you will also miss out on some of the other benefits such as your professional development and the impact you can have in the lives of students.
For those looking at these positions, also check out http://www.residentassistant.com for some good resources in this area!
Good luck, and feel free to contact me at ResidentAssistant.com if you have questions about careers or stints in student housing.
Amanda:
This post really gets to the heart of the struggle I’m in right now. I have friends pulling me in several different directions and, although I know what I want, I fear alienating people by making what they consider to be the “wrong” choice.
It’s refreshing to hear from someone who is experiencing the same existential crisis. I don’t know (definitively) where I’ll be in three months, nor what I’ll be doing. But I hope for the best and continue to enjoy my college experience until then.
Great advice.
Branden
The only person you have to please is yourself – I couldn’t have put it better. I am having the dilemma that I have a marketing degree and will hopefully have a PR MA under my belt by the Autumn. So whats a girl to do? I want to work in the North East which may mean that I have to start in marketing to ensure that I get a job straight away, but I am worried about what people will think. Why do an MA if you aren’t going to use it? But like you say surely it does not matter aslong as I am happy and successful in what I do.
Best of Luck
Rachel
Hi Amanda. You really hit home with this post. As ridiculous as it may seem, I find it very difficult to let go of things and just do what I want to do after graduation. Ideally, I would like to travel or doing something abroad. Ideally, I would like to move to the east coast and work for a PR agency in the city. Ideally, I’d like to figure out my future without the outside influences that you stated in your post.
I guess I’ll eventually figure it out. And I wish you the best of luck deciding your future as well.
Thanks again for the honest post.
Jamie