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After 5 years of endless suffering, I’m done university! I’m leaving McMaster with a degree in Honours Life Sciences (think bio, chem, earth sciences and ecology all rolled into one) and a Minor in Anthropology, just because I could. I’ve decided not to go to the actual ceremony in June, as it would mean driving all the way back to the city to graduate with over 1,000 kids that I don’t really know…I had to take an extra year to make up for a massive administration muck-up back in my first year, so all my friends were gone as of last year. I’ll just have them mail my diploma, I don’t need to pay to see a few dozen of my profs in weird robes and funny hats 😆
Unfortunately this isn’t exactly the best time to enter the job market. I’m still looking for work, and have been for about 8 months now. I felt like a failure until I learned that all my friends who graduated last year, including absolutely brilliant nuclear phys students and top-of-their-class teachers, are all jobless bums too. I don’t like being at home right now, just because my parents are limping by on 3/4 of a single paycheck right now and they don’t need me leeching off of them. They feel so guilty about never being able to help pay for my education (my sisters and I paid/are paying our own way), and that they have nothing to give my one sister and I for our graduations this summer, and no amount of telling them “we understand” seems to make them feel better about it. Maybe I need to tell them that feeding me and keeping me sheltered right now will more than make up for it.
Anyway, I’m done! It was so weird to read the “CLEARED TO GRADUATE” at the bottom of my grade sheet, I kept thinking they’d mess it all up on me again. And the last bit of good news? I managed to pull off 5 years of school and have less than $20,000 in debt! Working factory jobs in the summer, buying used books and living with my Grandma for two years helped a lot with that. Now I just need to find a job, pay all my debt off and get me a couple of those dragons I’ve been drooling over for the past few years 😛
Congratulations! I think expressing to your parents just how much room and board is such a monumental help to you right now might make them feel a tad better.
Congrats!
You may not find a job in your area of expertise, but I’m sure you will find something in the meantime – that’s what my sister-in-law did. She’s an engineer working in landscaping 😀
I didn’t go to my graduation either (neither of them) for the same reason as you – too many people I didn’t know.
So you should celebrate big time!
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/mybooks.htm
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmLokie wrote:Congratulations! I think expressing to your parents just how much room and board is such a monumental help to you right now might make them feel a tad better.
Ditto! Sometimes the best payments come after college. 🙂
Is there maybe a nature center or wildlife refuge/park near you? Even if it’s part-time, it will still be in your field, and you could put it on your resume’. That’s what I did, and I near left! 😀
Good luck!
Lokie wrote:Congratulations! I think expressing to your parents just how much room and board is such a monumental help to you right now might make them feel a tad better.
I agree. Room and board expenses can really add up! Sometimes it’s more expensive to live on campus than it is to attend the school! Good luck on finding a job; don’t give up hope and you will find one!
Thanks guys 😀
I’ve told my parents how much I appreciate having them look after me for a little while as I search for work, but they still shrug it off like it doesn’t count for anything. They’re nearly as stubborn as I am 😛
As for the job hunt, I’ve been looking everywhere, for part-time, for internships, factory lab work, yard work, you name it. There are a lot of nature reserves and parks around, but to give an example, I applied for a summer/fall job in a local marsh keeping track of the different nesting bird species and their predators, something I’ve done for fun since I was about 6 years old. I didn’t get the job, a Ph.D student applied for it! You wouldn’t think someone with that kind of education would have to look for part-time, seasonal jobs like that, but that’s how desperate things are around here right now. Most of the local shops and businesses are only hiring returning students, kids that still have bills to pay down, and I understand that, but that leaves me high and dry again. The last problem is experience, and the fact that I don’t have any that counts. With all the people who have been laid off or let go in the past couple of months, I’m applying alongside a lot of people with 5, 10, even 20 years experience. I’m hoping to find someone, somewhere who wants to train a freshly-graduated student from scratch, but so far they seem to prefer the pre-trained applicants.
So I’ll keep haunting the job posting boards every day and hope for the best. For now I’m just going to bask in the knowledge that I never have to endure another year of McMaster trying to drive me insane 8)
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