My Situation

College Life
1

<p>Throughout my life I was never a good student, particularly in math and science- stumbled into a major in Communications and now in my last semester. Didn't do an internship or anything and my transcript is quite poor. I hadn't even realized I was eligible to graduate in May, and now I'm feeling panicked about what's next.</p>

<p>I'm auditing a cognitive science course for fun. I walked into class and a girl next to me was doing math, another kid was reading a philosophy book; people were mostly quiet and alert. Within five minutes of class starting, several students <em>communicated</em> more effective, articulate and intelligent messages than I've probably ever seen a communications student do in an entire curriculum based on crafting rhetoric. </p>

<p>In my comm. class afterwards, I noticed how different it is. I walked in and people were loud (even while attendance was being taken), the conversations I overheard were inane, some people were sleeping, no one seemed to be paying much attention, and no one contributed anything to the discussion. Even my senior capstone course is depressing -- it's taught by the department chair, who has written books on communication (obviously someone who's passionate about the discipline). She went over common traits of comm. majors, and one was low self-efficacy! How bout that..</p>

<p>How I got into the major- I enjoyed an interpersonal communication course, my parents suggested I major in it. I'm more interested in psychology, but they said statistics is difficult etc. and convinced me. Not trying to lay blame, they probably steered me in the right direction and I don't think it matters that much, but I just feel so disillusioned.</p>

<p>I also had a lot of personal difficulties and made some major mistakes that I can't fix. On top of that, I don't have anyone here I can call a friend- I moved off-campus and the few connections I managed to make have died out. When I look at my college experience, it's difficult to see anything beyond these facts.</p>

<p>I'm not sure where I want to go from here, but in the meantime I'm at least going to start applying for jobs and such. But if I go about this the same way I've went about college, I think the price to pay is a directionless and unfulfilled life. Anyone have any advice or insight into this? Much appreciated..</p>

2

<p>Hi Lexy, one of my favorite sayings is, “this is your life, shape it or someone else will”. don’t be a passive entity, just letting things happen to you. What do you want to do? What do you want to get out of your last few months at college? Now, what’s stopping you?</p>

3

<p>It can’t be too late to start applying for internships!</p>

4

<p>I’m going to be blunt, because you clearly want to succeed. </p>

<p>Get your act together. You have the drive and the desire, now put it into practice. Read journal articles and studies to see what contemporary scholars are focusing on in communication studies. Take initiative in class discussions. Talk with your professors during office hours or over coffee about their research, past and present. </p>

<p>Most importantly, end this semester with a bang. Earn mostly A’s and B’s. Raise your GPA. It may not be perfect, but it’s better than doing nothing to improve it at all. </p>

<p>You have it in you to succeed. Get out there and start working hard.</p>

5

<p>P.S. Good luck!</p>