Week 2

Each year, there are certain questions that people inevitably ask you regarding your progress in school, college benchmarks, and academics. Starting from "Are you excited for college?" to "Are you excited for Study Abroad?," with about 97 questions in between. To me, most of these questions were simple to answer because I knew exactly how I felt or where I stood. About three weeks ago, my uncle asked me what I wanted to do after college. About two weeks ago, I admitted for the first time, that I was going to be a senior.

I always found the progression from high school to college somewhat amusing in that I was always told that I didn't have to pick a profession yet. However, looking at schools required having a general interest in a major. I picked engineering. After taking all of the basic classes in engineering my freshman year, I had to pick a major within engineering. I bounced around a few majors and landed in Manufacturing and Design Engineering. Towards the middle of sophomore year, it was time to plan Study Abroad. I picked Copenhagen, Denmark. Upon my return, it was time to find an internship. I picked Heathrow Scientific. Throughout all of these decisions, I still felt the "wiggle room" that goes with knowing you still have a few years left of college and that it was possible to go back, and reconsider my decisions. However, I am now entering the final stretch.

Though picking a profession and career has always been looming in the back of my head, I always found comfort in the fact that I am still "undifferentiated." I can mold myself into any shape I want or go in any direction, in any plane. Somehow in the past few weeks, I have seemed to stumble upon these two realizations that 1. I am a senior and 2. it's time pick a path and run. My initial fear was having to acknowledge that all of the decisions I have made in college, both academic and otherwise, have cumulatively differentiated me and put me into a trajectory, and that now, I just have to keep the momentum going.

Thankfully, this Lunch and Learn, which focused on the role of your major in your career path, was a pleasantly surprising awakening in that everybody had had multiple careers in multiple areas. Most of the people on the pannel started in a profession that fell under the umbrella of their major, but then slowly deviated away from the narrow focus of their college studies. Though I have heard similar stories before, hearing them at this particular juncture in my life has been incredibly reassuring. Their skills and knowledge have snowballed over the years and across their jobs, and that is now my new source of comfort. After hearing them speak, I started my job search. I found myself googling cool springboard jobs, as opposed to long-term, end-goal careers. Thanks to the Lunch and Learn, I had no qualms in doing so.