<p>So, hey guys, I am graduating Emerson College with a BA in Film Production after 3 years of study as an Honors Program participant. Due to a combination of laziness, and a debilitating skin disease + severe Bipolar 1 both rearing their heads in college, I will be graduating with a 3.2 GPA and no real technical skills (I have participated in many film shoots, but never built up the necessary experience/interest to be entrusted with high-level creative jobs). </p>
<p>Also, the only reason I will be graduating in 3 years is because my school allowed me to easily bypass many classes, including all math courses. Also, most of my classes at Emerson were very easy and taught few actual skills.
I have had one successful internship in LA and worked on a feature film there as well, but given my newfound knowledge of my medical conditions I now know that sustaining a sleep-depriving creative career on film sets is not in the works for me. I must give up my delusions of becoming a hit auteur director/writer, because I simply haven't laid the amount of groundwork my peers and many others I've met in the industry have. I want to change to a more stable field and start anew.</p>
<p>I want to turn my life around, and for once stop playing a victim and give it my all. I have gotten good marks with half-assery and poor time management all my life, and it looks like it's all finally caught up to me. I'd like to ask everyone here, what hope do I have left of attaining a creative and/or fulfilling career? What steps can I take to ensure that I'll get into a decent grad school or business school from here on out?</p>
<p>You have a good gpa and some excellent work experience. It just seems like you are thinking that everyone else knows so much more than you do and that you feel like you don’t have as much to “bring to the table.” If you are enthusiastic about the film industry than that energy is all that you need. . . plus perseverance as you continue your job search. And some lucky breaks! Congratulations on completing your degree and welcome to the next phase of your learning which will take place “on the job.” Stay busy and consider volunteering somewhere while you job hunt. That could be a way to build up more experience and confidence. Good luck with taking your next steps.</p>
<p>I am interested in creative writing, English, graphic design, and tourism. I feel like with graduate school I can be given a better shot at proving my academic/creative abilities, and perhaps seem more employable.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your support, but I must also add that I’m quite introverted and it often impedes my chance to connect with others.</p>
<p>OK, that’s three completely different fields and four completely different programs. That means you don’t really know the answer to the questions you need to answer.</p>
<p>Graduate school is not “two more years of college.” It is two (or more, much more for a Ph.D) years spent intensively studying a specific area within a specific field, then designing and executing an academic research study (or an original creative work for a BFA) in that field.</p>
<p>If you don’t know which one of four completely different programs you want to pursue, you quite simply aren’t ready to apply to graduate school.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to go out and look for jobs and internships in the fields you’re interested in pursuing. Explore your options, decide what direction you want to go, then think about graduate school later on.</p>
<p>I graduated with a BS in journalism and couldn’t find a job in that field. I took an internship working with recreation managers in the Forest Service, found that I liked it, was offered a student hiring opportunity and only then applied to graduate schools for a degree in outdoor recreation.</p>
<p>Maybe graduate school seems like the most comfortable alternative because it is a somewhat known and structured environment—after all, you have shown that you can handle you undergraduate work because you have graduated with your degree and you should be very proud of that. Now, it is the unknown that lies ahead. . . this can be unsettling for many people and might be making you feel like you need to go back to academia, an environment that you know. Just because the non-academic world is a new world for you doesn’t mean that you can’t handle it. Everyone, including you, starts out a little, or a lot, unsure of themselves. Think about what you have going for you. Have courage to go forward and faith that you can handle any ups or downs that come your way. Give something a try and if it doesn’t work out that doesn’t mean you are doomed to failure. Success is sometimes being brave enough to risk failure and resilient enough to recover from inevitable setbacks. This is a hard concept for someone who may not have struggled or had to re-bound from setbacks before. Even if you are more introverted, you can practice interacting with people and you can develop that skill. Find a family member or a mentor who can encourage you as you consider all of your next life steps. Good luck with returning to school or with entering the workforce. Or, think about taking a job and taking a few grad classes on the side, if that is feasible, while you sort all of this out.</p>
<p>“it’s a matter of time and discipline for me to achieve my dream goals, I suppose.”</p>
<p>Just take it one day at a time. Do have dreams and make plans but realize that your plans will be adjusted as you go along. It’s not like a road map with a fixed in place highway to get from point A to point B. Just start out going in the right direction and trust that you can navigate through your life little by little since none of us can predict exactly how the path unfolds. Best wishes!</p>