Thursday 25 October 2012

Step 2: Sharpen Your Pencils & Choose Postgraduate Studies

After choosing a career, and entering your final year of university, you may come across some other tough decisions. In the fall of my fourth year of undergrad, when I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life, I started sharing my thoughts with others who were interested to know more about the next step in my life. Something every upcoming or recent grad can tell you about.


I think people expected me to just enter the job market and they were more than willing to give me advice on how to do so. Little did they know that in the back of my mind I was completely unsure about that dive head first approach. I remember feeling anxious and sometimes so nervous I would get nauseous and overwhelmed when people even brought the future up, despite that, few people knew this. I had to ponder why I would have these negative feelings, and I realized it was because I wasn’t ready for the next step. The thought of working full-time was unappealing, and I wanted to continue being a student.
Maybe at first it was for silly reasons. I didn’t want to let go of the student life. During this semester I developed “graduation glasses” (think How I Met Your Mother) and I started feeling sentimental about everything Western (UWO) and London, I even started getting teary-eyed at the thought of not having to walk in the pouring rain across campus or having to take the LTC as my method of transportation. These unpleasant instances became treasures to me that I didn’t want to let go of. I was not ready to let go.

That all changed after my first two days of classes in second semester when something inside me imploded and I realized, “I am over it!” I grew frustrated with my classes and motivation dwindled. I was ready to get this year done and over with so I could move on to the next step in my life. Thankfully at this point I had already made the decision to apply to postgraduate PR programs at the end of my first semester, another important decision for me!

Education QuoteI applied to PR programs at Western, McMaster and Mohawk. I remember the mixed reactions I got when I told people I was going to continue my education. Even to this day some people tell me I have too much education. “What? Is that even possible?” The answer is no; in my opinion you can never be over-educated, but that is another topic in itself. So my parents’ reaction was sort of agreeable, they figured in this day and age it was inevitable to continue education after education, after education.

After much deliberation in February 2012, I decided I would go to Mohawk College for my PR program. It came down to the idea of gaining employable skills; and everyone knows that colleges are known for teaching skills more than theory. I was ready to move away from theory and the huge and pricey textbooks that lead to endless nights of readings and memorization.

I think people were confused by my decision and a lot of the responses I got were that I was “going backwards”. In my mind, with education you can never go backwards as long as you are using the education for a purpose and future goal. Not to mention post-graduate programs often build on the knowledge you gained in your university degree. After months I finally managed to convince my mom of this, and I became excited to start this chapter in my life. Back to Hamilton for a year, and back to school. Sometimes, when you are not ready to tackle the world, school is there to pick you up off the ground and give your life new direction.

Mohawk has a PR blog as well, where you can check out what me and my classmates are blogging about regards to the program.

P.S. I am a nerd, so I love school and I love PR.
 

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