Life is chaotic right now. Coronavirus is shutting everything down. With everything that’s going on, I’m finding it hard to decide what to do with my life. Last semester, one of my honors professors told me that I should go to graduate school. I thought, “Me? Graduate school? Absolutely not!” However, with everything going on right now, I’m finding myself thinking about it more and more. The more I reflect, the more I keep thinking that this is what I’m supposed to do. I keep thinking about the “everything happens for a reason” mindset, and I can’t help but think that it applies here. If this pandemic never happened, I don't think I'd be having this conversation with myself. Learning is something that I think I’ve taken for granted every now and then. I don’t want to let this opportunity pass me by. It’s safe to say that the job market isn’t exactly at its best at the moment, and who knows when things will start to get back to normal.
To be quite honest, I’ve never really considered going to graduate school—when people would bring it up to me, I never actually gave it a thought. It’s not that it was never an option for me, I guess I just thought that I didn’t need to go because it wasn’t essential for what I want to do as a career. However, I’m realizing that I can’t just skip out on something because it’s not required for my career. I need to go with my gut feeling and do what’s right for me. I’ve always been a people pleaser, and it’s been this way since elementary school. I remember one teacher telling my mom that my twin brother was a prodigy and was the most gifted student she’d ever seen. However, she also told my mom that I was dumb and never going anywhere in life. That stuck with me. Since then, I’ve felt this need to prove myself and be the best. I think that’s why I’ve always wanted to dive into the job market right after college. Learning is something so near to my heart, something that I think I’ve always been drawn to. It makes sense for me to continue on in my education so that I can be best prepared in the long run for my career. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are going to be times when we think we’re on the right road, but it takes a big obstacle to make us realize that we’re not.
I've been struggling with the grad school question myself. Like you, learning is also close to my heart, but graduate school isn't required for the job market I'm trying to break into. I've always wanted to expand my knowledge through higher education, but I've run into the problem that most graduate schools in my field prefer you to have professional experience and return to grad school later. After reading this, I'm kind of inspired to further explore my options if I were to go in that direction. I hope everything works out for you!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that sometimes it takes a big obstacle to show us we're going down the wrong road, and I'm so happy that you had that lightbulb moment. Even though we won't be seeing each other in class anymore, I wish you the best in your post-August-graduation plans!
ReplyDelete