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After You Graduate

baby e
edited November 2007 in General
Is anyone here scared about what they will do after they graduate?

I'm in my 4th year and I'm worried. I have NO experience relating to what I ultimately want to do and cant really get any since I'm going to school full-time and dont have any time to work at a job that would be relevant.

Im worried that Im gonna graduate and make only $30,000 a year to start and not even end up working in the field that I want to.

Also, do you think having volunteer stuff on your resume helps at all or is it just a waste of time. Oh surprise there, I dont have any of that either.

:(

Sometimes I just feel like going to University is a complete waste of time.

What about the rest of you? Do you guys actually have stuff on your resume that relates to what you want to do when you graduate?

Comments

  • Insatiable
    edited November 2007
    Nothing to worry about. You're in university and so are probably more educated than the average citizen. Everyone starts off small so making $30,000 a year should not be discouraging. It seems these days that companies expect applicants to be superhumans; in reality, however, I believe they say that because they expect people to inflate their achievements anyways.

    Also, volunteering is a complete and utter waste of time. It's always better to have relevant work experience than volunteer experience. In fact, I absolutely detest the mere principle of volunteering (working for free is basically legitimated slavery). Do it only if it's certain it'll get you somewhere (e.g. volunteer for a place where you hope to find employment); other than that it's not worth anyone's time.
  • randomuser
    edited November 2007
    I dont know about you but when I graduate my student loan payments are going to be scarier than finding a job :confused:. Be glad that if you havent taken any out youll grad with a clean slate, and don't most people with BA's end up doing something unrelated to their field anyway :secret:? Grad school is where its at
  • NukeChem
    edited November 2007
    Even though I'm a graduate student I can still relate - I haven't even begun paying off my student loans although I'm no longer borrowing more money, and my Master's is still about a year off. :omg:

    Hopefully I'll be able to get a postdoc position after my Ph. D - I've pretty well fixed it so I can get started on my Ph. D as soon as I defend successfully.

    *crosses fingers*
  • baby e
    edited November 2007
    I dont have any student loans, so I dont have to worry about that, thank god.

    Im just honestly worried that Im going to end up working at some crappy place that I do not want to be at because no one in the field that I want to be in wants to hire because i dont have any work experience.

    I wish I could get part-time work experience while im in school right now, but Ive been looking for part-time jobs EVERY DAY for the past 5 months and cant find anything!

    Its so frustrating. I guess i'll just wait and see what happens when I graduate within the year.

    Also, good to know about volunteer work. Yah, I guess it would only be wise to volunteer if it was for something that would help me get into a certain company or something.
  • c.j.86
    edited November 2007
    Have you ever thought about doing co-op? Sometimes they will accept students that have 90+ credit hours, so it's not necessarily too late.
  • meeshmeesh
    edited November 2007
    What kind of work do you want to get into?

    I know there are firms that offer internships for a specified period of time. Some of these are unpaid of course but if it's something in the field that you want to be in I'd say that it would be a good idea to do it. First, if you were to get an internship, you would have a better chance at getting a full-time job at the firm since they know who you are, what your work habits are, etc. Internships are also geared towards students so they don't expect you to have much experience, if at all. And I know it doesn't sound good when it's unpaid but if it's similar to what you want to do in the future, it's better than volunteering in something unrelated to your degree.

    as for me, i've already racked up a crapload of student loans...and my plan of action is to stay in school for the next 8 years lol i'm not ready for the real world =P
  • baby e
    edited November 2007
    ^lol, good plan. But I actually kinda want to get out there and get a career going. Everyone I know is telling me that im too young to worry about this stuff, but what am i going to do....live at home for next five to ten years? Id rather just get out there and start a career. Maybe im nuts, lol.

    c.j.86: I did co-op and it was pretty shitty. The job I got was awful (they lied about what i would be doing in the position) and it did not relate to what i wanted to do in the future. Also, the jobs that were being offered in my field were also not very good. So I decided that it was best to not to that route.

    I would absolutely do an internship. I mean, if it could get me a good job down the road, why wouldnt i do it? But the problem is that i dont really know where to start looking for that sort of thing. I want to do something in Marketing....Event Planning....Advertising....those sorts of areas. I dont even know where to look for an internship with those sorts of companies. I'd even move to another city or province if I could find a good one.
  • randomuser
    edited November 2007
    I think a lot of places went looking in a pool of applicants look for people 25+

    Im guessing youre 21'ish, Id just try to get relevent experience anyway you can in any of those relevant fields and get some experience, like even shitty menial jobs if they give you some of the assets places will look for

    I think the types of jobs youre looking at are those dumb foot in the door jobs, I working in event planning now which I was so lucky to get, pays well too. I almost want to drop out and work since Ill be making the same money I make currently with a job when I grad, but its not the field I want.
  • NukeChem
    edited November 2007
    Chemistry co-ops are particularly unglamorous for people who're in the field. The basic problem is that any monkey could be trained to do some of the repetitive tasks involved, but because it's OMGCHEMISTRY you need to be a very highly educated trained monkey. For $1500 - $2500 a month.

    There's a reason I went into nuclear science and it wasn't 100% because I happen to love the stuff. :tongue:

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