Things I Wish Someone had Told Me About College

As of Monday, I will officially be done with my undergraduate career, and the world will have deemed me to have a complete education. No more tests. No more papers. No more professors. No more class. No more internship. Instead it will be me out in the real world trying to get a real job. Which is slightly terrifying, but exciting all the same. This has put me in an incredibly reflective mood about my college experience and all of the things I wish I had done differently. So here’s a list of all the things I wish someone had told me about college. Or at least the things that I wish I had listened to.

1. College is not easier than high school. This is one of the most perpetuated myths by the IB (International Baccalaureate) program.  It iss not true. It is not true at all. College is not easier than high school. It’s true that you probably won’t be as overwhelmed by the work load. Most college classes are pretty minimal on the number of assignments that you get. Most classes are a couple of papers or three or four tests in my experience. This means that those two papers or four tests are your entire grade. You can’t just blow one off or your grade is totally screwed. And there are no guidance counselors or teachers to make it all better. You might be lucky to get a professor who cares and is willing to work with you, but a lot don’t. This means you have to put your best effort into absolutely everything you do.
2. Join Things. I was a painfully shy freshman. I had a couple of friends from high school, and I was fine with that until I suddenly found myself completely alone my sophomore year. Your best friends from high school will frequently not still be your best friends  in college.  At the end of the day, joining clubs in college is just as important as joining them in high school. In part because you need things for your resume, which is basically a trumped up college application. But also because it’s the best way to meet people with similar interests to yours. I joined a Christian sorority my junior year, and I truly believe Sigma Phi Lambda is the best thing that ever happened to me.  
3. Appl y for things. Part of my painful shyness was that I was terrified of applying for things like internships. I never thought I would be qualified for them. The thing is, there’s always going to be someone willing to give you your first shot. They’ll like your personality or your enegery, and they’ll give you a chance. Don’t let your own fears or insecurities hold you back. Because at the end of the day all it’s going to leave you with is an empty resume.
4. Professors are your friends. This is a bit of a contradiction to what I previously said about professors not caring, but if you take the time to get to know them, they will be more invested in you and your grade. Go to their office hours. Talk to them about your papers or some material for the class that you are struggling with. They can’t help you at the very end of the semester when you’ve already failed their class.
5. It’s not losing if you switch rooms. If you have an impossible roommate, try to get out of the situation. Don’t just live with it and let your grades suffer because you’re absolutely miserable. I had the misfortune of being stuck with a roommate who made my life extremely difficult my freshman year. The girl was weird, but I put up with it because leaving the room felt like losing. I’m competitive about the weirdest things. I wish I’d gone to my RA or campus housing to get me out of the situation. She made it next to impossible for me to be in my room. I hated almost every minute I lived there, and could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I’d gotten myself out of the situation.    

There are probably more, but these are the things I most wish I’d either listened to, or that someone had told me in advance. I had a mostly great four years at the University of Florida. I wish I’d done some things a little differently, but for the most part I have no regrets. College is a really great experience when you make the most of it. Enjoy every minute of it because it goes by all too quickly.

Preping for an Interview

It is two weeks from the end of my final semester here at the University of Florida and two weeks until the end of my internship at the UPF. This means I’m pretty much in a constant state of ‘What do I do next?’ This also means that I am hard at work looking for job openings and internships. Which also means interviewing. Interviews are probably the most nerve wrecking experience in the job process. You go and sit down in front of the person who is probably your potential future boss and you let them judge you about everything from your qualifications, to the way you dressed, to the way you did your hair that morning. It’s all an important part of the interview process and here are my tips on how a girl can prepare to have a successful interview.

1. Know the company you’re applying to work at. It’s really tempting to just submit your resume to a thousand places and see what kind of response you get. Then you go into the interview not knowing the facts about where you might be working. It’s important to know what exactly it is that they do, who their publics are, and whether or not its a good fit for your personally. In the days leading up to your interview, make yourself really familiar with the company and its history. If you can talk well about the company to your potential employer, it will show them that you are invested in the job and will make them more willing to invest in you.
2. Get enough sleep the night before the interview. The last thing you need is to show up at an interview with bags under your eyes and to be constantly yawning. It makes you look unprepared and unprofessional. I tend to get really anxious about things like interviews and have a hard time sleeping, so I go to bed a little earlier than usually. Counting sheep for over an hour will put almost anyone to sleep.
3. Shave your legs at least the day before. No, no one will be touching them. And if they try, it’s probably not a place you should want to work. But, it’s all part of presenting yourself  in the best light. And if those awful fluorescents catch a patch of stubble on the side of your leg or around your ankle when you sit down, it’s going to make you look sloppy. This sounds really superficial, but you don’t want to give someone a reason not to hire you. Job openings tend to be really competitive, and you always want to be seen in the best possible light.
4. Use pore strips. This is another fairly superficial thing to say, but you want your potential employer to be focused on what you are saying, and not on the blackheads in your chin. Again don’t give someone a really ridiculous reason not to hire you. It should be all about your qualifications, but there might be ten other people applying for the job that are just as qualified as you are. You have to do what you can to set yourself apart.
5. Think carefully about what you’re going to wear. There will be job interviews where a suit is required, but there also will be ones that are a little less formal. You should never dress in anything less than business casual. Jean anything will never be appropriate. Ever. No matter how dark the wash, they’re still jeans and have no place in an interview.
6. Do all ironing the night before. I am terrible at ironing. I’m pretty sure it’s a genetic thing because my mother is not the best at it either. So, it will take me twice as long as anyone else to iron even the most simple shirt. You do not want to risk being late for your interview because it took you two hours to make your shirt look presentable. Better than ironing, get it dry cleaned or pressed professionally. Or get your former military dad to do it. Whatever the case may be, make sure your entire outfit is completely ready to go the night before.
7. Nails should be a soft pink or completely free of polish. The first thing you do in almost any interview is shake the person’s hand. This means that your interviewer will be looking at your hands. The chipped Tiffany blue polish I’m currently favoring does not exactly inspire confidence in my professionalism. I’m aware of this. I have a lovely pale pink Essie polish that I use for interviews.
8. Keep your makeup light and neutral. That dramatic eye liner might make your eyes stand out, but it doesn’t belong in an office. You want to appear as natural and like yourself as possible. Tons of makeup makes it look like you are trying to hide your face. Also, stick to a simple lipstick or colored lip balm. Stay away from the lip gloss.
9. Don’t over-stlye your hair. Hair styles for interviews should be simple. If it’s down, keep it back away from your face. I tend to favor simple up dos or using a simple headband without an elaborate fascinator. Remember that if it’s down, you are more likely to play with it if you get nervous.
10. Remember to smile. Your smile will always be your best accessory. It will make you appear welcoming and show your positive and pleasant demeanor. People like people who smile, as long as you’re not creepy about it.

Rich Boys (the most ridiculously titled entertaining YA book I have ever read) and Unrealistic Expectations in Men

I took a break this weekend from the classic literature and “grown up books” that I’ve been reading lately to enjoy at little YA fiction (that did not involve anything paranormal like vampires, angels or werewolves). I try to stay away from it, because at nearly 22 I sometimes (frequently) find myself having a hard time relating to the 15-year-old characters finding the loves of their lives. I was once 15 myself, and this did not happen for anyone I knew. But, they’re kind of my guilty pleasure books, and Winnie was much more relatable at the age of 17. So after pouring over Barnes and Noble’s website for a couple of hours, I finally settled on Rich Boys by Jenny O’Connell. The title of this book is absurd. I’m a little bit embarrassed for the author because of it. If I wasn’t already familiar with her, (absolutely loved her book The Book of Luke. If you’re a fan of YA, I completely recommend it) there’s no way I ever would have purchased the book, but I am glad that I did in the end.

The book is the second in O’Connell’s Island Summer Series (you don’t need to read the first to enjoy it) and is the story of a girl named Winnie. It’s the start of her summer vacation, and her life has never been worse. Her sister decided not to come home from culinary school in Boston for the summer. Her parents are spending so little time together, Winnie’s fairly certain they’re on the brink of divorce. And Winnie’s job as a summer camp counselor at a resort in her beach town is only four hours in the morning, so she doesn’t have a chance to escape all of the awkwardness that goes on at home while or feeling like a third wheel with her best friend, Jessie, and Jessie’s jerky boyfriend, Nash. Then Winnie meets heavily pregnant Anne Barclay and her daughter, Cassie, while working at the beach one day. Anne is well into her third trimester of her pregnancy and is having a hard time keeping six-year-old Cassie entertained. She asks if Winnie will come be their nanny in the afternoons so Anne can rest, and Winnie happily accepts.

Winnie’s only been working for the Barclays a few days when Anne’s stepson, Jay, comes into the picture. After he’s rude to Winnie the day he arrives at the house, she’s pretty much ready to write him off completely. But Winnie can feel that there is more to Jay than meets the eye. She can tell that there’s a different person underneath the guy who is angry at the world and got kicked out of the dorms at his college for almost setting them on fire. The more time she spends with Cassie, the more time she spends around Jay, and the more Winnie realizes that things are not always as they appear. Her own family may be falling apart, but Winnie may be able to bring another back together before the summer’s over.

I loved this book. I thought Winnie’s insights about love, life and forgiveness were pretty much spot on. There are two major flaws though. Firstly, the absurd title. This book is basically a beach read. I read it in 2-3 hours on Saturday morning, but the title completely trivializes a book that realistically deals with some pretty heavy issues. I commend O’Connell for the way she tackles things like death, abortion and guilt, but she really should have fought for a better title for her book. Money wasn’t really a big factor. The two main guys, Jay and Nash, both came from wealthy families and were only on the island for the summer, but their problems are not limited to the ridiculously wealthy. Honestly, any guy can be a terrible boyfriend. Any guy can have major guilt issues over the death of a parent. Their problems were in no way defined by their economic status and had nothing to do with the book. Besides, the book was about Winnie. I felt like the title should have something to do with her.

My second problem is that this book feeds into the popular myth that a girl can change a guy. Jay meets Winnie and decides he wants to be a better person. Wrong. Books like this are why girls like me have unrealistic expectations in men. You meet a guy and know that he’s a jerk, but you just have to believe that there’s some deep underlying cause to his jerkiness, like guilt over his deceased mother or that he wasn’t loved enough as a child. Wrong. This is why girls date guys who are jerks. We read too many books and watch too many movies where a girl changes a guy, and we completely forget that this is a completely synthetic situation. Some author or script writer is feeding the guy every tear jerking line he says. I completely forget it too as heroes like Jay finally repair their relationships with their estranged fathers and become better people. Let us remember that there are far more Nashes in the world than there are Jays. But honestly, we probably wouldn’t enjoy books so much if every hero was a nice normal guy who was issue free. O’Connell handles well all of the issues that arise in the book though, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I give it 5 out of 7 stars.