Is It Summer Yet?

But seriously I've only had 3 days of classes, and I'm already ready to go back to the carefree-ness that is summer vacation. And now that I come to think about it, that was probably the last real summer vacation that I will ever have :(

This post-grad is back in school, which is much the same as undergrad. Except I'm actually learning things that will specifically help me in my future career and all my classes semi-tie into one another. I will hand it to this program, once I'm done I will be fully prepared to do the job that I'm hired for, something that I couldn't say with just my bachelor's degree. I'm not trying to knock liberal arts degrees, I have one and I think that it's an important component to our society (not everyone could/should be an engineer or scientists) but while I learned some analytical skills and how to write a mean paper, I didn't feel prepared for actually doing a specific job. Which is why I am thankful for the opportunity to be taught the boring, but useful art of grant writing/how to design a community health program.

I'm also thankful that there are so many opportunities for internships. It's a win-win, a school looks good when it can say "look how many of our grads get jobs!" while I get valuable/relavent experience to put on my resume. At the same time though, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at just how many networking events career services has for us (I'm also sick of the term networking, which seems to be a favorite around here). The first event is actually tomorrow, but after talking with my mom I've decided to forgo it. I was surprised to find that she supported my decision (usually she's all for taking advantage of opportunities and for good reason), but after talking it out we both came to the conclusion that when you're "speed networking" like that, employers really aren't going to remember you (I was glad to hear this idea validated by a second year student who said "Ya employers won't remember you; after the meeting the 60th person they're probably going to be bored/ready to leave anyway).

I've decided to stick with "networking" through my mentor (yes I applied to/was chosen to be a mentee of a public health professional) and with those I work with in my future internships. Oh, did I mention that I've already applied to 22 internships already?