What They Don’t Teach You in College
Life, as I am quickly finding out, is not always as straightforward as I thought it was.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that you knew it wasn’t straightforward, and that I am naieve for ever thinking otherwise. You’re probably also thinking, maybe smugly, that this is just another example of a kid coming out of college and not being ready for the real world.
Well, I have my reasons. For the past sixteen years of my life, I have been told that if I do well in college, I will be completely set in life. Anything, wait, let me italicize that for importance, anything I wanted would be mine. Easily too. I was always under the impression that a degree from a self-respecting university would immediately open company doors, giving me plenty of hands to shake, offers for high paying jobs, and maybe even a tray of cookies if it is that kind of company.
Yet, here I am, a full month after graduation, and I’m sadly lacking in the cookie department.
It’s not that the school didn’t try to help me get a job. They did, in a way. College presented a lot of workshops about going into the company that you want, sending out resumes, how to build a marvelous cover letter, and even on how to dress for the occasion. However, (and this is the thing I need help with the most) they never told me what exactly you’re supposed to do if a potential employers physically shudder when you tell them that you have a BA in English.
I guess I’m just in that magical state of “now what?” that all college graduates go through when they wake up one day and find that there’s nothing really for them to do. I say it’s magical, because like most magic curses, I can’t seem to find a way out of it. Sometimes, I think of turning to my new, shiny college degree, but I get the feeling that these days, college degrees are a dime a dozen. Is a Masters degree the new Batchelor’s degree? Did I really spend four years to end up in the same position as someone who never went to college at all? In our crusade to ‘leave no child behind,’ have we succeeded in making everyone painfully, painfully the same?
The main thing I never learned in college was that after I graduated I’d have a lot of free time. Luckily, I learned how to amuse myself in early elementary school, so my sanity can stay in tact. Somewhat.
Aah, life. Always a learning experience.
