2008 Woodie Awards
College student: a full-time occupation
By: GUEST COLUMNIST
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Forum
Imagine this: It's May 1, and I've just finished my last exam of the semester.
I've checked it over and, confident that I've done well, I hand it in to the professor. Without pausing, I leave the classroom behind and eagerly set my sights upon the next three and a half months. Having worked hard throughout the year to bolster my transcript, I figure that I deserve a while to relax. Alas, the old adage isn't true, and April showers will be followed by, well, May showers.
There was a time a while back when literally "taking off" the entire summer was perfectly acceptable. When you're in elementary school or perhaps even junior high, no one cares if you spend your days sleeping until noon, your afternoons watching TV, and your evenings watching more TV. Ideally, the "Summer of [Insert Name Here]" is what we all want, and though its exact definition may vary slightly for each individual, the overall trend is obviously one of pleasure over practicality. The real world, however, is populated by sleep doctors and not professional sleepers, network executives rather than expert television viewers.
This not-so-shocking fact leads to the May showers I mentioned before. When I've arrived back home, I'll no doubt get one or two weeks to decompose and live the good life. But then it's back into the workplace, likely in the form of a nine-to-five job for minimal wage. An internship would be better, but I've found that these are hard to come by (especially for a first-year student) and often require lots of travel time. Many of the most appealing ones are also in other cities, and while doing a summer abroad program in high school seemed OK, after having spent virtually the entire year in St. Louis, I feel like a couple months at home would be good.
So you can see, then, that I'm never technically "on break." While the nominal concepts of "homework" and "exams" may not exist in the summertime, most employers will tell you that every day in the workplace is a test (or some other similarly banal expression) and so you've got to stay focused at all times and work hard in order to succeed. Such a mentality will undoubtedly prove beneficial in the long run, but after a taxing year of school it can be difficult to keep your head in the game.
I've often heard people call college the last time in your life when you can really have fun. Seeing as I haven't reached the next level yet, I can't say for sure whether or not this is true. What I do know, though, is that after college there is no winter break or summer vacation. Except for a very few exceptions, work is a constant that persists for 12 months of the year.
Thus while it may, from the perspective of a college student, seem lame and unnecessary, getting a job or internship can prove immensely helpful in adapting to one's future lifestyle.
- Brian Price attends Washington University in St. Louis.
I've checked it over and, confident that I've done well, I hand it in to the professor. Without pausing, I leave the classroom behind and eagerly set my sights upon the next three and a half months. Having worked hard throughout the year to bolster my transcript, I figure that I deserve a while to relax. Alas, the old adage isn't true, and April showers will be followed by, well, May showers.
There was a time a while back when literally "taking off" the entire summer was perfectly acceptable. When you're in elementary school or perhaps even junior high, no one cares if you spend your days sleeping until noon, your afternoons watching TV, and your evenings watching more TV. Ideally, the "Summer of [Insert Name Here]" is what we all want, and though its exact definition may vary slightly for each individual, the overall trend is obviously one of pleasure over practicality. The real world, however, is populated by sleep doctors and not professional sleepers, network executives rather than expert television viewers.
This not-so-shocking fact leads to the May showers I mentioned before. When I've arrived back home, I'll no doubt get one or two weeks to decompose and live the good life. But then it's back into the workplace, likely in the form of a nine-to-five job for minimal wage. An internship would be better, but I've found that these are hard to come by (especially for a first-year student) and often require lots of travel time. Many of the most appealing ones are also in other cities, and while doing a summer abroad program in high school seemed OK, after having spent virtually the entire year in St. Louis, I feel like a couple months at home would be good.
So you can see, then, that I'm never technically "on break." While the nominal concepts of "homework" and "exams" may not exist in the summertime, most employers will tell you that every day in the workplace is a test (or some other similarly banal expression) and so you've got to stay focused at all times and work hard in order to succeed. Such a mentality will undoubtedly prove beneficial in the long run, but after a taxing year of school it can be difficult to keep your head in the game.
I've often heard people call college the last time in your life when you can really have fun. Seeing as I haven't reached the next level yet, I can't say for sure whether or not this is true. What I do know, though, is that after college there is no winter break or summer vacation. Except for a very few exceptions, work is a constant that persists for 12 months of the year.
Thus while it may, from the perspective of a college student, seem lame and unnecessary, getting a job or internship can prove immensely helpful in adapting to one's future lifestyle.
- Brian Price attends Washington University in St. Louis.
Be the first to comment on this story