“The jobs in that field really don’t make a lot of money. Is there anything else you had in mind?”
In a meeting with my college coach from a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded that I needed to get my life on track. And that I needed to do it quickly.
When I first came to Oswego, my mind was set on getting my MBA Degree. I had a whole plan from the beginning where I would major in Broadcasting, minor in Business Administration, and enter Oswego’s graduate program to receive my MBA in five years. I convinced myself to think that a bachelor’s and master’s degree would get me a great job with good pay, benefits, and aligned with what I wanted out of life.
When the world went on lockdown in 2020, a lot of people were experiencing a drastic change in the job market. Many people took the pandemic as an opportunity to do what they truly wanted, whether that be travel, permanently working from home, or finding new careers altogether. For college students like myself, I didn’t understand how much the pandemic was going to affect my mindset on what I wanted to do in the future. The experience caused me to rethink the options I was considering.
Before coming into college, I wanted to be a news reporter. I loved how the job looked on-camera, but off-camera responsibilities seemed to be a nightmare. The pressure of always being caught up with news stories as fast as they come. The criticism from editors who are never satisfied and always want more. The opinions of the public who feel like the stories don’t provide the right information. Looking at it just seemed like something that wasn’t worth the amount of stress I was going to have. Something that I was dreaming about for so long soon became just that: a dream.
Once I came to that realization, I started thinking about why I wanted to go to grad school. Graduate school applications required a personal statement explaining your motivation for applying. Thinking about it, I didn’t have an answer. I wasn’t interested in having a career in business. Even when speaking to other people who got their master’s degree, a lot of them said that they didn’t use it and would’ve ended up in the same place without it. I didn’t want to be that person who was just going to graduate school to keep myself from facing the real world.
As I count down the days to my graduation in December, I realize that I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. And I’m okay with that. I’m tired of the high expectations placed on college students to land full-time careers after graduation. I’m tired of the mindset that says college students should be making $80,000 or more in their first job out of school to be successful. I’m tired of having to pitch myself like I’m a product for these jobs to even consider me. I’m tired.
After 18 years of school being the most important part of my life, I think it’s important to take the time after college to prioritize what’s important to me. Your entire life doesn’t need to be planned out at 20.
If people realized that no job is unworthy of recognition just because it isn’t well-paid or at a well-known organization, the world would be a much better place.