The first month of the final year of my undergraduate degree has flown by, and I know that the rest of the year will come and go quickly as well. Graduation will be here before I know it, so the pressure to have my ducks in a row is high.
Getting ready to graduate
Making sure I'm still on track for graduation has involved several meetings with my academic advisors. Aside from looking at my remaining credits and the required courses for completing my program, I have been discussing my post-baccalaureate plans. Decisions about graduate school, potential gap year(s), internships, and living situations will be made in the next few months. I am looking to several of my professors, mentors, and advisors for their two cents about my options after graduation. So far, I talked to the Honors program director to make sure I can graduate with honors, initially assuming I would still have a course or two remaining. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I already finished the program! I'm proud of myself for completing it an entire year early, and I'm incredibly relieved that I won't need to worry about it anymore. Coming up, I have meetings with the McNair program directors, my academic advisor, and two of my favorite professors to discuss my plans for the upcoming year and career opportunities for my future.
Budgets and Adult Responsibilities
Planning for the future inevitably involves conversations about the financial side of becoming an adult. Though I have known my whole life that I will become fully financially independent after I finish my undergraduate studies, the reality of it is beginning to sink in. For the first time, I'm seriously starting to think about how much I need to have saved to be successful and comfortable. I'm considering the costs of living in various cities and states, especially the living expenses that are less obvious... life insurance, medical insurance, car insurance (clearly the world of insurance is a major stressor), and phone bills to name a few. I'm thinking about the responsibility of having a car and whether I should be reconsidering those expenses. I have always been very dependent on my car, so giving that up would be difficult even considering the money I would save.
So far, I'm leaning toward taking a gap year before I pursue graduate school so I can practice being financially independent in a place where cost of living is familiar and manageable. This will also give me opportunities to work and save money, potentially even with an internship or entry-level position in my field. Either way, I'm dedicated to making a decision that will set me up for happiness and success.
Big moves in my research
The start of the school year has kicked my research back into gear. I have been able to combine my capstone project with my current research with the addition of my friend and collaborator, Marissa Mueller, who is also a communications student. Together, we have developed a strong list of questions and a script that we will use for the interview portion of our project. This has involved a lot of thinking about the different ways our questions might come across, the variety of responses we could receive, and the follow-up questions that may be necessary for clarification or to draw certain kinds of information from our participants. Though this process is difficult and involves lots of trial and error, we have learned a lot about the underlying goals of our research and the best ways to ask questions to get the answers we really want. After lots of deliberation, we were able to come up with a strong script that accounts for the variety of identities, responses, and opinions of our participants. Our first interview will be conducted this week!
Up next...
The beginning of this year has kicked me into gear in preparing for my future. I have reflected deeply about what I really want out of life and the best ways to achieve those goals. The soul searching is far from over as I will continue to meet with mentors and advisors to hear their thoughts and ideas. I have lots to consider logistically for the upcoming year, and I'm determined to set myself up to be successful. My research is progressing far more quickly than it did over the summer and I'm excited to see it pan out. Overall, I'm making strong steps in planning for the future and still managing to soak up all the great experiences of my last year at UWEC!