Real world…here I come!

So…I’m graduating tomorrow! And I suppose that means that I need to write an obligatory blog post reflecting on my college years. As I sit in my bedroom packing all my belongings into two suitcases and two boxes (yet again), I can’t help but look back on the person I was when I stepped foot on Northwestern’s beautiful campus. I’ve changed and grown immensely in the past 4 years, and while I may never be fully content or satisfied with myself, I do think I’m proud of the woman I’ve transformed into through the course of my college experience.

And transformed, I think, is certainly the right word. As a freshman, I was shy, almost painfully so. I even tried to avoid taking discussion-based classes because I knew I’d be too afraid to open my mouth and contribute. I was also utterly confused about my professional interests and future career path. At first I chose to major in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS), a program that was essentially an accelerated math and economics-focused major. I quickly realized it wasn’t right for me, and decided to take a political science class instead – Law in the Political Arena. I fell in love, and changed my majors to Political Science and Economics. Professionally, I tried to pursue finance at first – like every other clueless Economics major – but eventually realized that wasn’t my passion. While I’d always enjoyed volunteering, I’d never truly analyzed this impulse, nor had I realized that one could work full-time for a non-profit. This awareness, too, came with time.

While the classes I took certainly helped me discover what I wanted to pursue for my future career, I think I learned far more out of class. I took advantage of so many opportunities on and off campus. I reported for The Daily Northwestern, joined student volunteerism groups like OASIS, LIFT, and Campus Kitchens, studied abroad in London, traveled across Europe, attended trials in the Hague with the ICC Student Network, helped start a student-run microfinance and development institute, interned in New York, Geneva, and Chicago for human rights non-profits, lead our university’s chapter of Amnesty International, and wrote a Political Science senior thesis on international justice and reconciliation in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. In the past couple of years, I think I’ve learned as much (if not more) from blogging and tweeting, than from all my other more ‘formal’ extracurriculars put together!

The lesson I can impart is that what you do outside the classroom is truly what defines you. You can have academic debates all you want, but it is through student groups that you learn how to work as part of a team and how to manage others. It is through individual research experiences that you learn to choose and define your own research question, collect your own data, and come to your own conclusions. It is through your study abroad semester or year that you broaden your mindset, adopt new viewpoints, and dramatically expand your understanding of different cultures and the world as a whole. It is through summer internships that you discover your passion for a specific field (or lack thereof), learn the skills needed to succeed professionally, and embark on a fulfilling career path. I’ve learned so much from my involvement outside the classroom – particularly regarding what I wanted from my future career – and I only wish I had done even more!

People often say that a liberal arts education is simply not worth it – that it is too expensive, and too theoretical. It’s true that liberal arts degrees often don’t prepare you very well for the real world in terms of providing concrete vocational skills, but I have personally found it an invaluable experience. Being forced to speak out in class, participate in discussions, debate, think critically, conduct original research, write long and cohesive papers, and present a logical and strong argument have all helped me grow into someone more confident and more knowledgeable. I enjoyed my liberal arts education, and while it’s certainly not for everyone, I think it has certainly strengthened a number of my weaknesses.

The next step of my life will be centered around adjusting to a non-university atmosphere. My next challenge lies in going from a situation where I’m constantly engaged in intellectual debate and surrounded by five different activities to one in which I’ll be thoroughly focused on one thing: my job. Having a restless personality, I will likely take up side projects as well, but still – all my attention will be focused on work. So I certainly hope I love what I do! Another challenge will be figuring out my long-run career path. I am interested broadly in public interest law, but within that I am interested in immigrant rights (particularly immigrant detention), asylum law, civil legal aid, public defense, and international legal aid/access to justice work. This sounds like a wide range of areas, and it is, but I hope to more concretely explore these fields in the next few years, prior to law school.

I’ve grown and changed a lot throughout undergrad, and I think I’m happy with the person I am today – someone dedicated to social change and to advocating on behalf of poor and marginalized populations. That was not the person I was as a naive freshman, and this was not my philosophy at the time. However, I’ve arrived at this belief again, through my extracurricular activities, social media, and the people I’ve met passionate about similar work – not through anything I learned in school. I’m still figuring out which is the best route for me to achieve change and justice, but the fact that this is now what I’m fighting for means, hopefully, that I’m on my way to finding something more than a job or a career – a calling.

Thanks Northwestern for a great four years, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

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