Hello! My name is Katie, and I’m so excited to be joining the CP&R team to share my academic and career pursuits Scripps. I’m even more pumped to hear your personal stories and tips for successfully creating a balanced schedule, declaring your major and applying for jobs and internships (AKA adulting).

The beginning of the school year at Scripps can feel like a rollercoaster. Whether you’re a first-year experiencing the college scene for the first time, or a senior who knows the system backwards and forwards, there’s a lot going on. Everyone is moving in, reuniting with friends, and sorting their schedules. If you’re anything like me, the first week is particularly thrilling and stressful: With all the twists and turns of PERMing and sitting in on potential classes, it’s exciting to finally find a routine, and reestablish some structure.
On top of all that, the start of the year is a time when people begin planning ahead. As a junior, I find myself freaking out about the daunting process of applying jobs and internships or internships for next summer. Some of my friends are already deep in the game, or have even decided what they’re doing already!

If you’re anything like me, this process is entirely brand-new. I’ve held jobs in the past, and studied abroad last summer, but when it comes to finding and applying for internships, my mind goes to mush.It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by unanswered questions, and compare yourself to your peers. You may ask yourself, What kind of internship should I be looking for? How do I write a cover letter? What should I put on my resume? These are completely valid questions, and it can be intimidating to know how, where or who to turn to for advice. Thankfully, you’re not alone: We have classmates, professors, and of course CP&R to help us find the types of jobs we really want.

I’ve noticed that searching for internships and jobs can be very similar to searching for classes and even declaring a major. When we first come back to school, we’re not entirely sure that we’ll stick with the classes we initially chose, and that’s fine! There is absolutely nothing wrong with switching your schedule, and testing new courses to see which you like best. The same can be said about finalizing your major: When we first enter college, we may have a preconceived notion of what we want to study. Some may want to declare pre-med, or pursue a career in law, or enroll as an aspiring engineer. The possibilities are endless, and despite what we’re told, we don’t have to stick with our initial plans.

Take me for instance: An Economics major and an English minor. You might think I know what I’m doing, right? Wrong. Believe me, declaring the major took years to decide. Growing up, I gravitated toward music, fashion and English, and initially entered college hoping to pursue creative writing. But I also wanted to test the waters in other academic fields, to be entirely sure I’d found the right major. I dabbled in Religious Studies (which was a disaster, by the way), practiced Spanish, and took Calculus for the first time. But what really got me outside my comfort zone was enrolling in an Economics class. I was absolutely terrified of Econ; I froze every time I entered the classroom and panicked when the professor cold-called on me. But once I moved beyond my fear of asking a “stupid” question or making a fool of myself, I realized how much I liked the material. Sometimes, the biggest risks offer the greatest rewards.

Did you ever watch iCarly on Nickalodeon? If you’re anything like me, you were obsessed with that show. Remember the theme song? Live life, breathe air, I know somehow we’re gonna get there, and feel so wonderful. Yes, Carly’s goals may have sometimes seemed impossible, and she may have faced some adversity along the way, but in the end, things always worked out because she worked hard and kept her cool.     With that in mind, I’d like to add that it’s great to be curious about the future. It’s also perfectly normal to be nervous about the process, and to have a million questions about the directions of our academic careers. And we don’t have to figure it out immediately or on our own! We can learn a lot from each other’s experiences, and I’d like to use this blog to (hopefully) answer some of these questions for you and me!

This year, I challenge you to be ambitious, to want the best possible job and internship opportunities, and to plan ahead and actively search for these positions. I also challenge you to be patient with the process and the unknown, to give yourselves a break, and find comfort in the fact that we have no idea or control over what the future holds. In the words of Justin Bieber: Take a deep breath and let it go. Because soon enough, we will find the classes, majors, internships and answers we’ve been searching for! So welcome back from your summers my friends, and cheers to a year of new challenges, curiosity and fun!