Whenever anyone asks what you’re doing after graduation.
Whenever any elderly family member asks about plans for after graduation, I feel that most people must internally scream and scramble around for a non-committal answer, but not me, oh no. I am the Queen of Backup Plans so I usually give a 5-minute speech or so about my main plan, then backup A, then backup B, then if that doesn’t work I can always do plan C, and then finally if nothing else works I’ll become a certified yoga instructor and live like a hippy until I can find a more sustainable job. My grandpa doesn’t like my last backup that much, but eh, you can’t please everyone.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t try to box yourself into one career. There are always other venues you could explore even if your major has nothing at all to do with it. (Seriously, to teach English in another country for a year all you need to do is be a native English speaker – that’s it!) However, I feel like there is such a pressure at Rice to get a really impressive job or fellowship or go straight into med school or a PhD program after graduation and we all need to realize that we still have the rest of our lives ahead of us. Most of us will only be 21 or 22 at graduation and it is completely fine to explore different career venues or take a gap year before moving onto your dream career or your next big step.
Personally, my dream is to become a Foreign Service Officer, and coming into college I had my whole four years planned out to get this job right after graduation. But the average age of acceptance into the Foreign Service is 32 and so the last few months I realized – what’s the rush? Being a diplomat is my END career goal, not my beginning career goal. So I’m applying to work for travel companies (I’ve studied abroad twice and let me tell you, the travel bug is still there!) and I’ll be applying to teach English in a variety of countries (Europe, Japan, Korea, etc.) because these programs typically want young graduates so I definitely wouldn’t be able to pursue something as unique later in life.
I realize that a lot of things I am mentioning you may think only apply to D1 or D2 majors rather than engineers or science majors, but that is absolutely not true. There is no handbook that says engineers have to go straight into engineering jobs right after graduation. Take a gap year – go teach English in Japan (no knowledge of teaching or Japanese required), join the Peace Corps (they need engineers too!) and don’t be afraid to apply to jobs that are outside of your major.
And if we burn through our backup plans and you end up being a yoga teacher right alongside me after graduation, remember there is absolutely NO shame in that.
Emily Flood is a Peer Career Advisor from Martel College. She is a senior studying political science and French studies.
