Remember your junior year of high school when you started taking college tours and you were forced to think about potential majors and where you could end up for four or so years? Remember those feelings of anxiety for not having any idea what you wanted to be or do, but yet you still felt like you needed to know everything all at once yet knew nothing no matter how hard or long you thought about the future? Remember eventually realizing you didn’t actually have to have everything together right then?
So to my juniors in college, to those feeling the weight of internships and potential careers, you’re going to be all right. Just like in junior year of high school, you don’t have to have everything figured out right now. Yes, be making the steps towards putting the best you there can be in front of potential internship opportunities. Continue to build your resume by filling it with positions you truly are passionate about and use to grow yourself in your major. Buy that padfolio and maybe consider adding a few business professional pieces to your closet. Go to internship panels and career fairs, but don’t stress about being perfect. Let you shine and not just the perfect job candidate because I’m sure more than anything you want to end up in a place that wants you for who you truly are.
Once you begin to make these steps, take a breath. You only get to be an undergrad once, and for most of you, it’s only for four years. Take every opportunity to be a college student you can. Enjoy both lazy weekends and fun-filled football Saturdays. Revel in the fact that you can live with some of your best friends in whom you can make late night milkshake or cookie runs with. Even with the realization of the real world approaching in less than two years, take the time to enjoy the now because just like how college was a transition from high school a career will become yet another daunting transition.
Yes, the future is approaching, but let the future take its time to come. Don’t forget the now. Yes, plan for your future, but don’t panic if you have no idea where you want to be in two years. Most people don’t know which internship they will have next summer or what they want to be when they grow up, so don’t put all of that pressure on your shoulders now. Take the steps to becoming a better you for your future career and putting yourself in positions in which you can network with professionals, but don’t place the weight of your entire future on everything you are doing now. Anxiety and stress, of course, will come, but don’t let those emotions take over because you have time. Breathe and enjoy because sadly, undergrad can’t last forever, but you can make memories that will last, which will get you through those long days at the office when you daydream about your college glory days.
