Since graduating in your not-so traditional way (hello, 2020) in May, I’ve had so many different feelings about finishing school. If you didn’t know already, I went to a four year commuter college about fifteen minutes from my house and earned my bachelors degree in Marketing. I didn’t have the full blown, “college experience”, but it doesn’t mean that the post-college feelings aren’t any less as strong. So I thought if even one person could relate, why not talk about it?
With this series, I hope to share tips about finding internships, jobs, etc, as well as share updates about my career and my plans. I wanted to start it off with an introduction type post, so I’m going to give a bit of a background on what college was like for me, and what I’m currently doing. Hope you guys enjoy!
My College Experience
So like I said, I stayed home for school. (I wrote a post when I graduated if you want to read that too). I always knew I would end up staying home (the idea of staying in a dorm was super unappealing to me). At the time, I thought I wanted to be a teacher, so I based my school choice off of that. Luckily for me, one of the top teaching schools for where I live, was only fifteen minutes away. However during my freshman year, I quickly decided teaching wasn’t for me.
During my sophomore year, I took different classes to try and find what I would be interested in. I quickly found myself signing up for business and creative kinds of classes. I was taking advertising, graphic design, magazine writing, public relations… you get the idea. My school has a policy that makes all sophomores declare a major at the end of the Spring semester. So come May of that year, I chose journalism as my major. It seemed to me like the most creative option at the time, so I thought it would be a good fit.
Fast forward to September of my junior year, I had started a new job and was going through a weird phase of emotions, and decided that I wanted to go back to teaching. So I went back to my advisor stupidly thinking it would be super easy to make the switch. She told me I would be in school another two years (four more total) which quickly crushed all my plans. I’ve never minded school, but I always enjoyed working more. So extra time in school meant more time until I could start my career. I would basically have to start school all over again as if the last two years meant nothing. Personally and financially, I didn’t want to do it. I knew if I really deep down thought I was meant to be a teacher, I would have no problem staying in school, but that wasn’t the case.
I sat there for a few minutes, totally lost on what to do. I guess she saw the confusion on my face, and told me that she thought marketing would be a great fit. I had taken most of the classes already, and seemed to show an interest in it. So with literally nothing to lose, I made the switch and ended up being so happy with my decision. My advisor seriously deserved a raise after the amount of times I changed my mind, but I was so grateful.
Picking a Major
My advice to anyone stressing over picking a major is this: don’t. The first two years of college are the same for anyone anyways. So take the time to explore your options and figuring out what you’re passionate about. I always thought marketing was about math and business, but it’s definitely a lot more creative than that. I didn’t realize how many career paths there were, until I did the research. And don’t forget that its OKAY to change your mind, most people do. I’m really happy that I ended up with my major, because I think it’s perfect for me.
And that’s the first post for this series! I hope this was relatable or helpful to someone! I have so many different post ideas for this series, but if you have any topics you want me to talk about, let me know!
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