did you feel ready for the real world?
I was thinking about this at work a few days ago, and I'd forgotten about it until I was in the shower this morning.
I've been wondering about the preparation that PEG gives its students for moving on into the real world. I wonder sometimes if we were too heavily sheltered from some of the problems that have arisen since we graduated. (OK, the problems that I encountered.)
For example, I went into PEG believing, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would be a doctor in 10 years' time. (Of course, I also believed that I would still be able to excel without studying, and my first C was a rude awakening there.) I followed what I believed to be the "correct" course to continue my medical studies. (As a matter of fact, it was NOT the ideal method, but then, I was a more than a little naïve.) And then, at the end of my junior year, I fell flat on my face with the MCATs, and I began to wonder if being a doctor was what I really wanted.
But I honestly didn't know what else I could do with my life, the way I'd set it out. And I actually sat at home for most of a year after college, not being able to come up with anything to do. So I did nothing.
The only reason I got off my ass at all was because I had a kid, and my father said I couldn't stay home anymore, that I had to do SOMETHING to help support this kid. And he made me apply to graduate school; and there, I found something that I was actually interested in, and I did it. And now I'm a scientist at a large biotech company, and I'm considering law school so that I can work for the FDA.
But is this where I saw myself in college? Hell no! I'd never considered industry as a possibility for me. Hell, I never really even considered academia as a possibility. For me, it was medical school or nothing.
A lot of other things have happened along the way, that made me wish I would have gained a lot of other real-world skills as well, like money management, and time management, and stress management.
So I guess here are my questions:
When you graduated or left PEG (or college), did you feel like you were ready for the real world?
What skills do you think you lacked? Could you have learned them before you left college?
Are you doing what you wanted to do when you started out?
Do you think that anyone could have taught you what you needed to know to do what you're doing now?
Do you feel that you were given opportunities to learn what you needed to learn in a safe(r) environment, rather than being thrown to the lions on everything?
Do you think you would have learned something if you'd been given that opportunity?
Things I think:
I think every PEG should have someone that they can sit with, who can look at their goals, their skills, and their education to date, and give them advice on ways to get where they want to go, and also other ways they can choose to go with the plan they're following. No one should have to take a year and a kid to figure out something to do, and I think that a lot of us felt like we had very few options when we graduated or left.
I think every PEG should be given the opportunity to work on-campus or off-campus, as work-study, and get the money to use for expenses. I know that if I'd actually earned some of my own money, I probably would have been a lot less frivolous with what little money I got. By the end, I was begging my folks for laundry money, because I'd wasted the money they'd saved for me, because I didn't know how to manage my money. (Hell, I'd never HAD money before, so how the hell else should I have learned?) I also think that it's important to be able to manage your work time, school time, and down time, and having a job will help with that immensely.
I think every PEG should be encouraged to develop skills outside their planned skill set. I'll tell you, working in the theater (what little I did) was completely different than any of the science skills I had, but I did learn about working quickly and precisely, and I learned the value of the behind-the-scenes work. I think that helped me understand how the work I currently do impacts the lives of others in much the way I wanted to as a doctor.
I really think that we should encourage mentoring of current PEGs by previous PEGs. I know that the administration probably would think that I would be a terrible mentor for a PEG, what with all the rule breaking I did and all that, but I think that it's important to have someone that you can relate to, who's been there, who you feel comfortable in aspiring to be, and who can help you understand that there are more options out there than being a doctor, or a rocket scientist, or President of the ACLU, or whatever, but that those are viable options too.
Ideas? Comments? Am I still being naïve? Do I think too much about this? :D
I've been wondering about the preparation that PEG gives its students for moving on into the real world. I wonder sometimes if we were too heavily sheltered from some of the problems that have arisen since we graduated. (OK, the problems that I encountered.)
For example, I went into PEG believing, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would be a doctor in 10 years' time. (Of course, I also believed that I would still be able to excel without studying, and my first C was a rude awakening there.) I followed what I believed to be the "correct" course to continue my medical studies. (As a matter of fact, it was NOT the ideal method, but then, I was a more than a little naïve.) And then, at the end of my junior year, I fell flat on my face with the MCATs, and I began to wonder if being a doctor was what I really wanted.
But I honestly didn't know what else I could do with my life, the way I'd set it out. And I actually sat at home for most of a year after college, not being able to come up with anything to do. So I did nothing.
The only reason I got off my ass at all was because I had a kid, and my father said I couldn't stay home anymore, that I had to do SOMETHING to help support this kid. And he made me apply to graduate school; and there, I found something that I was actually interested in, and I did it. And now I'm a scientist at a large biotech company, and I'm considering law school so that I can work for the FDA.
But is this where I saw myself in college? Hell no! I'd never considered industry as a possibility for me. Hell, I never really even considered academia as a possibility. For me, it was medical school or nothing.
A lot of other things have happened along the way, that made me wish I would have gained a lot of other real-world skills as well, like money management, and time management, and stress management.
So I guess here are my questions:
When you graduated or left PEG (or college), did you feel like you were ready for the real world?
What skills do you think you lacked? Could you have learned them before you left college?
Are you doing what you wanted to do when you started out?
Do you think that anyone could have taught you what you needed to know to do what you're doing now?
Do you feel that you were given opportunities to learn what you needed to learn in a safe(r) environment, rather than being thrown to the lions on everything?
Do you think you would have learned something if you'd been given that opportunity?
Things I think:
I think every PEG should have someone that they can sit with, who can look at their goals, their skills, and their education to date, and give them advice on ways to get where they want to go, and also other ways they can choose to go with the plan they're following. No one should have to take a year and a kid to figure out something to do, and I think that a lot of us felt like we had very few options when we graduated or left.
I think every PEG should be given the opportunity to work on-campus or off-campus, as work-study, and get the money to use for expenses. I know that if I'd actually earned some of my own money, I probably would have been a lot less frivolous with what little money I got. By the end, I was begging my folks for laundry money, because I'd wasted the money they'd saved for me, because I didn't know how to manage my money. (Hell, I'd never HAD money before, so how the hell else should I have learned?) I also think that it's important to be able to manage your work time, school time, and down time, and having a job will help with that immensely.
I think every PEG should be encouraged to develop skills outside their planned skill set. I'll tell you, working in the theater (what little I did) was completely different than any of the science skills I had, but I did learn about working quickly and precisely, and I learned the value of the behind-the-scenes work. I think that helped me understand how the work I currently do impacts the lives of others in much the way I wanted to as a doctor.
I really think that we should encourage mentoring of current PEGs by previous PEGs. I know that the administration probably would think that I would be a terrible mentor for a PEG, what with all the rule breaking I did and all that, but I think that it's important to have someone that you can relate to, who's been there, who you feel comfortable in aspiring to be, and who can help you understand that there are more options out there than being a doctor, or a rocket scientist, or President of the ACLU, or whatever, but that those are viable options too.
Ideas? Comments? Am I still being naïve? Do I think too much about this? :D