While I was in undergrad I went though a period of “wokeness” (the state of being woke). By using the term woke I’m not referring to black consciousness but instead a sudden awareness of what actually mattered as opposed to what I thought mattered. It was after my internship and in my last semester of undergrad. I was graduating a semester early, in December, and had just finished up my life-changing Wall Street internship. This internship was my first and last internship with an official corporation. My first two summers in undergrad I spent at home working and boo’d up with my then boyfriend. I was wholly unconcerned about an internship or gaining experience in my field because I had a good GPA and was set to graduate in 3 years. I was extremely involved on campus (sorority, student government, NAACP just to name a few) and was sure I was on the right path. However, at the start of my junior year I began to panic internally. It started to hit me that I had one summer left before graduating with no real experience in my field of choice (finance and economics for me). I’d sat through lectures from professors and counselors about the importance of gaining experience, paid or unpaid. Out of nowhere it started to click. I began searching for an internship ruthlessly to no avail. Then a friend told me about the internship program that I ultimately was accepted into and the rest is history. I share this story only to highlight the fact that I was severely disillusioned. Everything I thought mattered, didn’t. What I placed the most value was ultimately incorrect. I believed I was on the right path but I wasn’t. If you’re an undergrad, there is a chance that you share some of these beliefs or misconceptions as I will refer to them. Below are five misconceptions about what’s important as an undergrad.
- Your GPA or experience doesn’t matter as long as you get your degree. I’ve heard this time and time again and my personal belief is that it stems from the older generation – AKA our parents. Our parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunties tend to let their pride get in the way of reality. They are so proud of their son/daughter/niece/nephew being away at school that they start to say stupid things like “Baby as long as you finish and get your papers (your degree) you’ll be fine!” Fact: every time I hear someone say this I literally cringe. This could not be further away from the truth! Here’s the truth: our parents grew up in a generation where a college degree = a job. The job market was wholly different than it is today. Our job market is highly competitive and continues to become more and more competitive each year. Guess what? You getting a degree doesn’t guarantee you a job. It doesn’t and it shouldn’t. You don’t deserve a job because you showed up to class four (or more) years in a row. Getting a degree proves nothing. What’s more important is a degree, paired with a good GPA (above a 3.0), and internship experience. This proves something. This proves that you not only maintained, but that you worked hard to perform well in your classes (GPA). Internships show you are prepared for the real world. It’s time to wake up.
- It’s more important to graduate on time than to graduate late due to a change in major, internship opportunity, etc. This is another lie from the pits of hell (and all of my Christian readers laughed and said “AMEN!”). I cannot tell you how many times I have talked (aka lectured) a peer or younger friend about the importance of graduating prepared on-time. For some odd reason we think that graduating on time actually means something and it doesn’t. It only means something to you and your parents. It means nothing to the working world. Do you realize that your resume only shows your graduation year and NOT your start year? When you interview at companies they don’t say “Okay so you started college in 2010 and graduated in… 2016?! You took 6 years to graduate?!” This scenario never plays out because it doesn’t exist. College students will stay in a major they hate, graduate with a low GPA, or skip out on valuable internship experience JUST to say they graduated on time. This is unwise. What’s the point of graduating on time and rushing into a working world that you are unprepared for? Who cares if it takes you 5 or 6 years to graduate? Why are we in a rush to start working and paying bills?
- You don’t need an internship as long as you have a good GPA (because companies will hire you). While a good GPA is certainly a great attribute to have, it is not the key to getting you hired. A good GPA shows that you took your studies seriously and worked hard to pass tests. That’s it. It shows you do well in a classroom setting but guess what? The working world is nothing like school. School is theory. You are taught what happens in theory in the classroom. Real world experience does not consist of a bunch of theoretical problem solving. It consists real problems that if left unsolved, loses the company money. An internship shows that you can succeed outside of a classroom. I elaborate more on it here: Internship: Why You Need It and Shouldn’t Graduate Without It.
- I shouldn’t start looking for jobs until I graduate. While I know it is very tempting, and even seems noble, to focus only on your studies while you are in school it is something you should avoid at all costs. Waiting until you graduate to start your job search robs you of all the resources and connections you have available to you as a college student. Why wait until you move back home to your parents’ house to start preparing for your future? We have to learn how to do multiple things at once. It’s okay to walk and chew gum at the same time.
- I don’t need to seek leadership positions in on-campus organizations. Membership is enough. Let me explain something to you: having an on-campus organization on your resume is only meaningful if you hold some type of leadership position in it. Period. These experiences only exist on your resume to show some type of skill set you have or developed as a result of being apart of that group. Leadership in organizations show that you can handle responsibility and solve problems that come with holding a title. Additionally, you need worthwhile bullet points to put on your resume to explain that involvement. You don’t want superfluous bullet points on your resume like “attended monthly meetings and contributed to dialogue about racism in America” (for example). This shows nothing about your ability to succeed in the working world.
If you identified with any of these mindsets, it’s okay! So did I at one point. Now you are aware of what really matters so start making changes in your life to reflect that. Hate your major? Change it! About to graduate with a low GPA? Stay an additional semester or two to bring your GPA up. The problem is not making mistakes. Mistakes are a vital part of life. The problem is not moving differently once you’ve realized you’ve made a mistake. Lets start turning our L’s (losses) into Lessons. You can do it!
