College confession: I’m a senior who is still not sure about my post-grad life

03 Sep 2014

Hello everyone and happy back to school season!

My name is Alison and I’m excited to be back as the editorial intern at NextStepU. I’m here to offer insight on the whole college experience and impart some advice and wisdom to all you readers (I guess I have that ability now as a senior right?). I am currently attending Nazareth College of Rochester in the always-lovely Upstate New York where it’s finally starting to feel like summer. (Though a little too little too late.)

I’ve changed my mind a lot when it comes to careers and majors. I’ve gone from education to history to English Literature to Political Science and now Communications. I’m really happy with my Communications major because it’s so diverse and you can pick your focus and it applies to a ton of job prospects. It also left me with more post-grad options to choose from which is both a curse and a blessing. I’ve tried out concentrations in journalism, graphic design, dabbled in a bit of web design (truth: html totally scares me), and now I’m trying out marketing.

However, even as a senior, I’m still not quite sure what I want to do with my life. On my first day of classes this year, I settled into my first 8 a.m. class since freshman year and watched a bunch of bright-eyed freshman and sophomores raise their hands and declare what they wanted to be and why they chose that major.

As I sat off to the side of the room trying to wake up and feel like an actual person, I suddenly started to feel extremely anxious because these students — all of whom were a good 3-4 years younger than me — had a better idea of what they wanted to be when they grew up than I. But then I remembered that every time I declared a new major, I was captivated by the same feelings of assurance that these students had. These students would probably change their mind as I did (many times) and come to find new interests through self-discovery like I did. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I could still change my mind as most do now in their careers. In fact, even though I’ll graduate in May, I can still try out internships and explore more interests before committing to more school or a career path.

Based on my experience, I want to leave you with a few tidbits of advice: try new things, join a club you wouldn’t normally gravitate to, strike up conversations with people about their choices and how it influenced their decisions, take a class outside of your comfort zone, and don’t commit to anything you’re not totally sure about. Additionally, consume school services while you have them. Alumni departments can pair you up with former students and you can grab a cup of coffee and discuss your options and learn from them. Colleges and universities typically have career service departments where you can get resume advice and do mock interviews and receive valuable tips to help get you started. College flies by, so enjoy it and utilize every second you get!

Ali Sewalt is the editorial intern for NextStepU and is a senior at Nazareth College. You can reach her with questions and for advice at Alison@nextstepu.com.