Saturday, October 01, 2005

The Future or L'Avenir?

Senior year of college is an interesting time. It is similar to senior year in high school because there are several things to think about and none that can be given the full attention that they deserve. Some people are dealing with preparing for LSATs, GREs, or MCATs along with applications to law school, graduate school, or medical school. This is similar to high school, where we were dealing with the process of applying to college without giving it our full attention, because, well, we had activities and classwork to worry about. I know tons of people taking the LSAT because they don't know what else to do after college. Law school, then, looks like the best option to them.

As interesting as law seems to me, I'm still not sure if it is the direction I want to go right after college. Thus, my solution to this indecision is to try and get a job. The idea of having a year or two to not have to take my work home with me sounds good. Some people say they want to go to school right after college because they fear they will never be able to drag themselves back to school if they start working now. From my experience of taking a year off to work, I can say with certainty that working gave me every desire to get back in school as soon as possible. Unless you absolutely love your job, you will probably want to go back to school at some point, and if you love your job, hey, more power to you.

The other advantage to getting a job, as I see it, is getting a sense of what I like to do. After a couple of years in an entry-level position in that field, I figure I will go back to school to get more specialized training and in turn get a more optimal job when I am done.

Of course, this is all hypothetical. One thing people my age have trouble believing is that as much as we think we need to plan things out, life cannot go exactly as planned. Sure, I feel kind of directionless when I tell people that I don't know what type of graduate school I may want to attend after college, but I figure that I am lucky to be in the position where I even have the option of getting more education.

For the time being then, I am looking at either working in a public interest firm or think tank or teaching English in France. Teaching English in France is parttime (12 hours a week), and thus not lucrative. However, I found out that due to the low income of an English teaching assistant (the formal job title), one's apartment can be subsidized by the French government. Between the great, inexpensive health care I have heard of foreigners getting while in France and this rent subsidy, I can only further admire the French system. (I may be singing a different tune if I choose to take the plunge and look for an apartment in France. We'll see).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barack Obama was a community organizer for quite a few years before he went on to law school. ~ harriet

Steph said...

I am anxiously awaiting your commentary on the Meirs nomination...a further aside, when I heard the nomination of Harriet Meirs on NPR this morning, I kept having the equivalent of an auditory double-take and asking myself, "wait, did he just say Elaine's mom?"

Elaine said...

My Mom can attest to the fact that almost everyone she knows has told her that they "thought of her" when they heard the nominee. Or, she gets, "I heard you were nominated to the Supreme Court" and sometimes "I wish you really were nominated to the Supreme Court instead." I don't even know what to say about her...some people have suggested she was nominated with the expectation she will be filibustered b/c she is not qualified...then Bush will bring in an ideologue and get him through by virtue of the fact that one nominee was already blocked.

Elaine said...

I agree with you in a sense. I think it is more cronyism than anything else. Also, if Roe is overturned, the conservative base may become complacent. There goes a base that has helped Republicans win many an election. In a way it is in their interest to keep it legal, though I'm sure the right-wing would find something else to mobilize over, and something equally as silly. Either way, the nominee appears to have little going for her in terms of credentials. I'm guessing Reid likes her b/c he has a background in regulating gambling himself. It's even been suggested that Bush called him up and had Reid give him a name who he would vote for.