What is your major?
What do you want to do with that?
What summer internships do you have this year?
No matter who asked me these questions, the answers did not change:
I'm not sure yet. I like a lot of things.
It's hard to pick.
I'm still looking.
Some people say sophomores are supposed to have it all figured out... We are supposed to have our majors declared, our internships in line, and know exactly what courses we are taking for our next two years. There are also more realistic people who say sophomores don't need to figure it all out yet.
I agree with the latter.
Every day I am so thankful for going to a liberal arts school where I can have as diverse courses in my schedule as I want. I can take a New Media class and also a Physics class if I so choose. UNC Asheville makes connections between the departments. I may have a lecture about light and its impact on color in Physics, and then implement that in a project for New Media.
What I'm trying to say is that it is okay and normal to have various passions, in fact, here it is encouraged.
But I didn't realize this and other facts the day I was panicking that I didn't have everything figured out like all of my friends seem to have.
I had made an appointment with the career center to discuss summer internships, and figured that was also a great time to sort through the plans for my major.
The career center is a free resource on-campus for students and alumni. Employees there help you fine tune your resume, edit the perfect cover letter, find jobs on and off-campus, look for internships, or any other work related information you could think of needing. If you prefer not to go into the office that is in the Highsmith Student Union, you can go directly online and read through their resources there. Making an appointment is as easy as logging on to their website and finding what you need:
http://career.unca.edu
I have been to the career center before to go over resumes for jobs and have always had wonderful experiences. My most recent trip was no exception.
By the time I left my appointment, I had papers in hand about the process of finding the right major for me, what my personality type meant, where I could work to best suit my interests, and application information for summer internships that are near my hometown. Every thing that I had wanted to get, I had left with.
An interesting part of the appointment was when the career counselor and I were reading over qualifications for an internship.
One of the bullets read:
"Earning a Bachelor’s degree, preferably in journalism, public relations or communications or liberal arts equivalent."
Liberal arts! One of UNC Asheville's most proud distinguishers about campus, and here it was in an internship description. Being part of a liberal arts education is something everyone is beginning to notice and takes seriously. It is a recognition to be proud of.
Also in the appointment, we used resources that are available to people on-campus such as personality tests, strong inventory tests to see your interests in the workplace, along with search engines for jobs and internships.
Best of all, they told me that I was exactly where I needed to be for a sophomore. I was doing the right thing by taking various classes to see what I like, being aware of my interests, and being open to change.
Above all, I think that is what I needed to hear, that I was on the right track.
