I don’t know what I want to do after undergrad, but I’ve come to learn a few things from it

Graphic By Esra Rakab / Production Coordinator

Back in Grade 12, when I was applying to university, I applied to 11 different programs — all in science or engineering. I was uncertain about what exactly I wanted to do and what university I wanted to go to, but I was sure that I wanted to do something within the STEM field (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Fast forward to September 2017 and I had officially started my undergraduate degree in health sciences at McMaster University.

Although I still had an interest in engineering and other programs like kinesiology, I thought that health sciences was a good fit due to its flexibility with electives. In addition, I had considered becoming a doctor — and didn’t most people in this program become a doctor? While I was right about the latter, the idea of becoming a doctor was only an idea that was floating around in my brain at the moment.

However, things came up. I realized that medical school, unfortunately, wasn’t accessible to disabled students. So what was next on my list? To be honest, when I came to this realization in my first and second years, I wasn’t sure what was next. But I had the rest of my undergraduate degree ahead of me, so I shouldn’t have to worry about it, right?

Unfortunately for me, I was very worried. It seemed as if everyone in my program knew exactly what they were going to do — they were going to be a doctor. They were going to write their medical college admissions test after their second year and apply to medical schools in their third. If they didn’t get in that year, they’d apply in their fourth year.

Unfortunately for me, I was very worried. It seemed as if everyone in my program knew exactly what they were going to do — they were going to be a doctor.

To be surrounded by people who know exactly what they want to do when you’re just struggling to have your head above water is terrifying. I felt the need to still take courses I didn’t like in order to maintain a high grade point average (just in case I changed my mind about med school, of course). All I wanted to have was some sort of stability, some goal to aspire to. If that wasn’t med school, then I wanted to know what career I would be pursuing.

The thing is, I hadn’t been sure of pursuing any career — even in high school, I was so uncertain of what program I wanted to do. I picked health sciences on a whim. So by now, you think I would be okay with uncertainty, right?

Uncertainty is still hard for me. Not knowing what goal to pursue can be scary for many people. But, I’m going to graduate very soon and my perspective has changed a lot. Although I’m still coming to terms with being okay with uncertainty, I have learned a couple of things.

The first thing is: do things because you enjoy them. Take courses you enjoy, not because you think you should take them. Don’t take that microeconomics course if it’s not what you’re really interested in doing. Take courses that you like, even if they aren’t “a part of” your program.

The first thing is — do things because you enjoy them. Take courses you enjoy, not because you think you should take them.

I took an English course this year because I thought it looked interesting, not because it was a requirement for a potential career. While it is important to look out for your future, doing prerequisites isn’t the be-all end-all.

The English course I took ended up being one of my favourite courses I’ve taken and led me to meet a really cool instructor that I actually met to talk about potentially pursuing a master’s degree in English. By taking a course I enjoyed, I opened a career path I may not have considered before now.

Secondly, it’s okay to not have your future mapped out. If you decide you don’t want to become a certain profession, even if you have it all planned out and are about to graduate, it’s okay to change your mind. Don’t go into something because you feel pressured by your parents or other students.

Secondly, it’s okay to not have your future mapped out. If you decide you don’t want to become a certain profession, even if you have it all planned out and are about to graduate, it’s okay to change your mind.

I don’t know, maybe I still will become a doctor. I don’t know what lies ahead in my future. I’ve considered occupational therapy, physiotherapy, law, becoming a professor, social work, nursing, journalism and more.

My idea of what I want to do changes very frequently, but that’s okay because I want to take my time so that I’m 100 per cent certain that I like my future career. Even if my mind changes after I enter a certain profession, though, that’s okay too.

Being okay with uncertainty is hard, but sometimes uncertainty helps you figure out what you truly want to do. We should learn to embrace uncertainty more — after all, it’s completely normal not to know what you want to do.

Photo C/O Grant Holt

By: Elizabeth DiEmanuele

“We often don’t realize how resilient we can be,” says Kerri Latham, career counsellor at the Student Success Centre. “The truth is, the more times you fail, the easier it is to try.”

For the Student Success Centre, providing students with the resources and supports needed to develop their resiliency in university is important. One piece of this work is normalizing failure, uncertainty and other factors that contribute to wanting to give up on a goal, project, idea, or dream.

As Jenna Storey, academic skills program coordinator at the Student Success Centre, says, “Students often encounter challenges in achieving their academic goals. Resiliency in academics is about bouncing back after these challenges, and also recognizing and working through them by incorporating better academic and personal management skills.”

Most recently, the Centre led a digital campaign called #StickWithIt, a resiliency campaign that responded to student experiences the Centre addresses in its regular roster of programs, services and workshops. Staff have also participated in the CFMU’s MorningFile show, covering topics from Thriving in Academic Uncertainty to Developing Career Resilience.

In Kerri’s role, resiliency is an ongoing conversation and practice. Whether it’s through her one-on-one appointments, a career and employment session, or a Career Planning Group, one thing is clear: there is a shared uncertainty for many students around what they are going to do and where they are going to go next.

Kerri shares, “Though there are expectations, reflecting on your own priorities can help you stay grounded to pursue a direction that is best for you. Try not to get swayed too much by what others are doing. Know yourself and honour your own path.”

Knowing yourself does not necessarily mean “know your passion.” As Kerri suggests, “This puts a lot of false expectations on students, but the main thing is to pay attention to those seeds of interests and allow them to grow. Though it might feel like everyone has it figured out, there is always change, uncertainty and new directions.  It’s okay to not know right now – uncertainty is to be expected.”

For students focused on what’s next, Kerri recommends breaking big decisions into smaller chunks; and when job searching, focusing more on the opportunities and skills students want to develop. She also encourages students to use their strengths and supports, like family, friends or mentors.

The good news is: students don’t have to go through it alone. The Student Success Centre is a place for students to explore, from the moment they accept their offer of admission and up to ten years after graduation. Upcoming sessions include:

Register for workshops or a career counselling appointment on OSCARplus.

Visit studentsuccess.mcmaster.ca to learn more.

 

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Brandon Meawasige / Senior Sports Editor

For all that is worthy of time wasted, engrossed in discourse and studied from every angle, there is one subject that no equation or research can solidify. There is no way to measure either the quality or quantity of love.

The closest classification widely considered to be accurate is that love is an emotion. Taken at face value, we are told that it is something we can feel. However, love itself is malleable and takes many forms.

To simplify it as an emotion has left love susceptible to frequently cloudy, general descriptions that are in turn often sought as a necessity. In search of it, people manufacture expectations - unrealistic and naïve in nature - only to have reality come to fruition. Media, those who surround us and most other edges of our frames of reference dictate what love should be.

Pardon the allusion to the famous 1990’s nightclub song, “What is Love?”, but it may indeed be the most profound question known to humanity.

Some say that it is trust, some say that it is respect and some say that it is an unspoken connection. It has been described as a can’t-eat, can’t-sleep, over the moon feeling in the pit of your stomach. Some say it requires that one is miserable and some say that it is does not exist in its truest form.

If you are constantly searching for love, certainly you will not find it.

Anyone who claims to ever have been in love will tell you that happenstance, serendipity and chance played at least some role in their experience. Some call it destiny and others consider it to be the result of circumstance.

Even further contested is the idea of “the one.” Some believe that you can only truly fall in love once while others believe it is possible to be in love may times within one’s life.

The pessimist will tell you that love is not guaranteed and the optimist may believe it exists to a flaw.

At the end of the day, some things go beyond explanation; love is one of them. Love itself may escape definition, as many who find themselves bound by its capture seek to escape ever falling for someone in the first place. What constitutes being in love? The answer is different for every person.

Values supersede all else for certain people, others require physical attraction and to a select few just being able to spend time with someone is enough to conjure the ultimate happiness.

Love is not one thing in particular and it is certainly more than an emotion. You feel it in your body, mind and soul. You hear it in the music you listen to and see it wherever you look when you can’t sleep. It’s in the words that you say and the words that you don’t. There is nothing better and at the same time there can be nothing worse. It can fix you and it can break you, but when you fall in love with someone you will know. Doesn’t matter what you call it or how you express it.

In fact, nothing matters when you fall in love.

Put all your cards on the table, go all in and hold nothing back.

 

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