I am an international transfer student and major in econ. Before I came here, I was studying finance, but my former school was not good at. For me, managing future income risk started when I made the choice by coming to U of I. After I came here, I did start to manage my next step, but some of the aspects I have not covered.
First, I choose economics as a major because in future career, I want to be in business area. So far, the choice I made haven't start to pay off yet, but after I apply to business graduate school and graduated, I believe I can be more on track to business. Also, I'm taking computer science class in order to apply in a business minor. After half way through the class, I'm starting to have an interest in computer science and willing to minor. Although this was not my first intention, I think this decision does not lead me away to my original plan. Although I planned the minor, I haven't talked to my adviser for any class suggestions. I did plan something in my academics, but some of the stuff I have not done yet, so the pressure just keep adding up.
Second, during the summer, I was an intern in an investment bank. The experience was new and challenging because I never worked in an actual bank and I was really nervous. The reason I want that internship is I want to have some working experience to put in my resume, which can get me a bigger chance to get a job offer. However, my debt has piled up. Even though I already have some intern experience, I still haven't start to renew my resume. Also, I haven't been to any career fare. Not just because I do not have a resume and cover letter ready yet, I just do not have the push for me to do it.
Till now, I realized that I'm junior standing now, which means for me there is less than 2 years for me to know what I want to do when I graduated from undergrad school. If I do not have any job offer that I wanted, I would pursue a graduate degree. I'm international student, which means for me to apply to graduate school I need to prepare a GRE or GMAT test. I know which direction to take on my path towards business, but I have been laying back so much that I might starting to put too much on my senior year and I might end up achieve nothing.
When I came to U of I, I think it is a great chance for me to start over. After one year, I feel like I have been pushed all the way, and I have left many things along the way. The things I left became my debt, and I do not have much time left to make up the debt. I think most of the students in college are all facing the same problem as I am, we all believe that we still have some time left, but the truth is once we realized that we might need to clear up our debt for our future, there might be not much time left to do so.
For my career, managing future risk is about clearing debts that were left behind, make sure the path I'm taking is the right path and make adjustment to different situations.
If you are a junior now, then already having had an internship last summer seems like an advantage to me. Not everyone does this after the sophomore year. I suppose the issue then is whether this coming summer you will go back to the investment bank or do something else. The prior experience may have benefit for you in doing something else in that you might be more relaxed with some other internship, having done it before.
ReplyDeleteI didn't quite understand your fully story, as you said you haven't yet gone to a career fair, but you have had an internship. I thought the former was necessary for the latter. If not, can you replicate how you found your internship last summer?
I also was unclear on your graduate school ideas. Did you mean you want to get an MBA? Or are you considering going for a PhD in Business. The two are quite different. I learned a couple of years ago that PhD programs in Accounting are desperate for students, and the career as an Accounting professor pays quite well (measured by how other professors are paid). But that is still many more years in school and you really have to want to do it to get a PhD. An MBA is a different animal. It typically has more value to a student who has worked for several years after the bachelors degree, because then the practical knowledge from the work experience blends in with what is being taught in the classes, and because your classmates in an MBA program will have that sort of background.
The internship I got during the summer is an opportunity my parents pulled some strings and got for me. I'm not looking for a replicating experience because that internship I got didn't go some much as I wanted it to be. This time I looking to do something that is completely on my own. Also, I do not have many knowledge in business grad school so the information you provided is really useful to my future planning.
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