Self-Frustration

[Cbrider]

I keep telling young ones to get out and network. I think the education system really fails you in this regard. Its important to be smart and know stuff, but if you can't communicate it in a useful way, its pretty much useless.

You can't even place a monetary value on how much opportunity interships give you right now.

[IndiReloaded]

Internships, co-ops. Yep, its worth the scut period to get your foot in the door. Most ppl get promoted from within, this has always been true.

[lahnnabell]

Hehe, what's really lame is that the college I graduated from REQUIRED internships all 4 years of my time there. I did two month-long internships in the first two years, one at the place I worked at the time ('cause I was desperate and it was last minute, stupid freshman!), and the other as an office admin assistant at my town's local theatre.

My junior year I went to Mexico for a month for an immersion/community service trip where I lived with a non-English speaking family and helped fix up a pre-school in Puebla. For my semester senior internship I got one of my dream jobs, working as a farm intern at a therapeutic horse riding farm. I got to groom, care for, ride horses all day, 5 days a week. I got to work with the most amazing kids and adults, almost all of which had some sort mental or physical disability or behavioral disorder.

I've been working in retail since I was 15. I've been a Lead Bookseller and a Cafe Lead at B&N, I've been a Shift Supervisor at Starbucks, and the job I was laid off from in June was one of my favorites. I worked as an Academic Coach in the Resource Department at a public charter school in California.

No person with a functioning brain can tell me I don't have plenty of work experience. So, you guys are right. The economy sucks. I'm just fielding creditors lately and it sucks ass. Seriously though, thank you so much. I had a small bout of anxiety this evening and managed to sleep it off after calming myself down (gotta love those cuddle naps). My mom is scared for me (her first born baby a whole 3,000 miles from home), but I'm trying not to worry her. She's got her hands full helping my brother and sister.

You guys are amazing and I'm so happy I found this forum. I've been looking at internships again and volunteer work as well. I wish I'd started earlier. After a couple months of applying to nearly 30 jobs a week, I got kind of depressed and slacked off a bit last month. I forget how much better I feel when I've got clear goals in mind.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Much love

[lahnnabell]

You know where else education fails (well, there is lots, haha), but resume writing. College advisors, professors, or whoever, have no idea what people are looking for in a cover letter and resume now. Lucky for me I got the inside scoop from my boyfriend's dad who works as an Ops Manager for some green company that is doing business with China. He went over my resume with me and gave me some awesome tips from a business viewpoint. College only teaches you about action verbs and aesthetics. Blow me, advisor lady.

My BF's dad is gone to China for at least a week in the last 3 months. They are definitely not hurting in the way that most are, but they know they are lucky. They've been so supportive of me and I cannot thank them enough. I was able to scrape together enough cash to buy them some Xmas presents as a small thank you.

And I'm pretty sure the boyfriend got me the Randy Moss jersey I told him I wouldn't mind having

[Cbrider]

LOL! Facebook listed your boyfriend as a "suggested friend" for me.

Very true about the whole resume thing. I feel like the education system drives formats into your head but gives absolutely no grounds to their application. I guarantee you that if you surveyed any college campus, you would find that an alarming number of students couldn't even tell you the purpose of a cover letter, much less how to write one.

I have always been pretty outspoken against the education system here where I grew up, the transition from high school to college was absolutely horrible. I did it, but I know a lot of people that lost steam halfway to it and never made it through the first year of college. I SLEPT through THREE of my senior year classes, the teachers didn't care and I still passed with A's and B's in all of them. My senior English class was a joke, the teacher read to us for the first 20 minutes of class and she was without a doubt the biggest MILF in the education system. Every guy in the class passed with flying colors. What did I take away from senior English you ask? The entire 870 pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix......read to me by by my teacher........

Higher education in this country is quickly slipping to just being the equivalent of standard education of former years.

[lahnnabell]

Perfectly stated, dude. I was appalled by how many college freshmen still had to take College Writing or Academic Writing because they weren't writing up to par with college standards. Regardless, all the business majors I ever worked with STILL could not write for sh*t. Like, can't even use spellcheck correctly bad.

The transition from high school to college was tough. I had to step it up really quickly when I realized my writing was still very elementary in comparison to what my professors wanted. I was eventually put through Lit Boot Camp (Literary Criticism course) by one of my professors and never looked back. Seems like few "get it" right away, hence all the 5 and 6-year students.

And I don't get the, "You MUST choose a major NOW!" No one knows what the hell they want fresh out of high school. Had I known that I didn't have to want to go to a 4-year school, I would've gone to CC and raised my GPA so I could get into vet school.

[Perryville]

How old are you, Bell? Couldn't you still go into Vet Med? Where I live, there is always need for more Vets, especially large animal Vets, and extra especially, good-looking female ones. I would hire you on the spot. LOL

[Cbrider]

Perfectly stated, dude. I was appalled by how many college freshmen still had to take College Writing or Academic Writing because they weren't writing up to par with college standards. Regardless, all the business majors I ever worked with STILL could not write for sh*t. Like, can't even use spellcheck correctly bad.

The transition from high school to college was tough. I had to step it up really quickly when I realized my writing was still very elementary in comparison to what my professors wanted. I was eventually put through Lit Boot Camp (Literary Criticism course) by one of my professors and never looked back. Seems like few "get it" right away, hence all the 5 and 6-year students.

And I don't get the, "You MUST choose a major NOW!" No one knows what the hell they want fresh out of high school. Had I known that I didn't have to want to go to a 4-year school, I would've gone to CC and raised my GPA so I could get into vet school.

CC's are extremely under appreciated and made use of. I think it should be required that degree seeking students do the first two years at a CC. Universities are brutally hard to adjust to if you don't happen to just fall into the format.

[vashti]

The smart kids in my area take CC course in their junior and senior years of high school, and earn simultaneous credit. Lots of them enter university as a sophmore.

[lahnnabell]

The smart kids in my area take CC course in their junior and senior years of high school, and earn simultaneous credit. Lots of them enter university as a sophmore.

That is smart!! There is one vet tech school in my area, so I think I'll look into giving that a go for starters.

And Perry, thanks Large animal vet (specifically horses) = dream job! And I just turned 25.

I think once I have kids and they hit high school I'm just gonna talk up CC until I'm blue in the face. Better they take it slow instead of wasting their money changing their major every year.