Tag Archives: midterms

Making Professional Friends

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As a former Seattle resident, finding connections and expanding my network in Southern California has proved somewhat difficult.  I have lost all of the immediate connections that I had access to through my friends and family, and am essentially starting over in a new state.  Therefore, finding an internship this summer has required searching for potential connections through the scripps network and reaching out to my parents for any potential family friends.

Scripps College has an excellent database for finding information on alumna.  I have accessed the Scripps Community Network several times in the past month in order to gain some inspiration on what I want to do this summer.  By first narrowing the search down to California, then choosing the specific field of work I wanted, the network uses the search inputs to provide a list of Scripps alumna in the location and area of expertise.  It provides their occupation, where they work, and even some contact information.  This is a good tool to access during your internship search, because you can reach out to Scripps alumna and ask questions or advice on searching for career opportunities.

Another helpful networking to use is the Scripps College page on LinkedIn.  Although there is often little to no contact information, it is still easy to search for occupation and location to get some inspiration and maybe even connect with an alumna if she works for or as something that sparks your interest.

After using the Scripps Community Network to see a range of career paths taken by the alumni of Scripps, I had a wild thought: what if I found an internship in the entertainment or media industry this summer?  I have always enjoyed creating things, and just because I am a politics major does not mean I have to be a politician.  So, I reached out to my mom and asked about getting in contact with a family friend who works as a production designer on films and television shows.  I got her contact information, and am planning on connecting with her over spring break to discuss advice, tips, and how she got into the business.

Well, I am slowly building my network from scratch, so does that mean I am an adult now?  If so, I am not sure how to do it right, but I’m rolling with it.  While I am excited to have established this connection, it has been hard to focus on my career path for the past two weeks.  I had four midterms, which required a lot of time-management in order to figure out when and what I was going to study.

It can be hard to balance school and professional life, especially during times of heavy workload.  I managed it by unfortunately reducing my time at the gym and my time spent sleeping.  I am not saying that I cut the two out from my daily schedule completely, but instead, I shortened my workout to a thirty minute run instead of a full hour and a half training session.  I also started waking up early on days when I did not have morning classes in order to fit in an extra two hours or so of studying before lunch.  While I do love sleeping in and exercising, sometimes sacrifices must be made during midterms weeks.  I am excited for spring break to come so that I can have an extended period of time to focus on internship searches and network building without the stress of exams.

Writer’s Block and Other Mysteries of the Human Psyche

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Sometimes, we anticipate what’s going to happen in our lives, and yet, it often doesn’t end up work out the way we had planned. Not only is this true in life, but also in writing. Sometimes you start out writing an essay with a clear thesis or point in mind, but then, when you actually start writing, you find that you are pulled in a different direction. I find this to be very true and have figured out some ways to make it work in my favor, instead of against me.  

Just recently I wrote a paper for my history class where I intended to focus on the rhetoric used in historical documents from the suffrage movement. Once I started writing, I realized that my thoughts were creating a trail that moved away from this idea of rhetoric and instead, I found that I was focusing on the way that men were being depicted in these suffrage ads. At first, I was frustrated by this. I thought to myself, “I have a clear topic in mind. Why can’t I just stick with it?” Although this might be easier in retrospect, sometimes, a new topic reveals itself to you once you are actually writing. Here are my tips and comments on how you can keep yourself on topic, even if it means changing your topic.

When you get on a roll, you feel like you have magic fingers and the words just flow directly from your brain onto the page. Let this happen. Even if what you think you’re writing is complete gibberish, you will likely spit something out that you can end up using, or maybe bring up something new that can be used for a different topic.

On the other hand, sometimes, it feels like you can’t write a single word, even if your life depended on it. This is okay too. It happens to everyone at some point in their academic career.

Sometimes the best way to get around this issue is to write whatever pops into your head. Similar to the advice above, eventually, something will grab your attention, and you can pursue something there. Oftentimes, we get so bogged down with ideas we think we need to be writing about that we can’t let our minds be creative. But, just getting some ideas down will help to get your brain thinking about potential topics and move past the feeling of pressure you might have to stay on a particular topic.

If you don’t have to write about something extremely specific, think about the texts you’ve read in class. What’s intrigued you most about your discussions? What sort of questions has your professor flagged? What questions or comments have you been bringing to the table? This will help get your mind thinking about the key ideas your professor is likely to put into an essay prompt and will also get you thinking about the things you’re interested in, which also make the best topics.

Even if your topic seems restrictive, there is always wiggle room, so celebrate the fact that you’re not tied down to one topic, literally or figuratively.

Don’t worry. You got this!

 

Midterm Season

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If I can’t tell it’s midterm season from the plethora of approaching assignments lined up in my planner, I have another surefire way of knowing. I spontaneously begin losing things left and right.

First it was the laundry I had left out to dry in the laundry room, next it was my headphones.

It feels a little bit like the more I try to stuff into my brain and my schedule, the less room there is for me to remember the little things in my life. According to this Huffington Post article, stress isn’t just making me forget where I’ve put everything that isn’t attached to my head, it’s also shrinking my brain. I’m more than a little bummed to hear that my noggin has been making me feel stressed for trying to get work done and rewarding me with less brain power in the process.

200wI had just worked out the perfect schedule to get all of my work done on time, get enough sleep, even go to the gym a couple times a week. But suddenly, the frequent all-caps reminders in my agenda started to appear more urgent.

To tell myself that I was getting work done, I would methodically go through every assignment – read 100 pages of this for Core III, 50 pages of that for Sociology, the 3 articles for French – that is until I got to the item in all caps at the bottom, “WORK ON PAPER DUE MONDAY.” A sudden wave of sleepiness and anxiety would wash over me and I assured myself, “I’ll do it tomorrow” as I again wrote “WORK ON PAPER – SERIOUSLY” in the next day of my planner. Instead, I got extra reading done for my other classes, completed extra credit, finished less stressful homework that wasn’t due for the following week.

It was already the weekend and my outline was barely finished. I ditched plans and even skipped a networking event that I had been truly looking forward to attending. Worse, I completely forgot to let anyone know that I wouldn’t be able to make it – being completely disrespectful and disappointing to those who I had promised I would attend.

I curled up in every possible study spot I could think of, from the Toll browsing room to the Writing Center and Jacqua Quad, and yet my analysis remained half-cooked and disjointed. No matter how many Motley matcha-chachas I treated myself to, none solicited the sustenance to bring the big “Aha!” moment to my paper. I poured over quotes and called on friends, but nothing seemed to help. As the hours to the deadline loomed nearer and my clarity did not, I tried my best to stitch together a paper that I was not proud of.

Somewhere along the progression of my stressed out self, I forgot that this paper was not the only measurement of my value or validity as a person. Despite the many friends over the past week that reminded me, “You aren’t defined by this paper!” the knowledge that these seven pages were worth a quarter of my grade eclipsed their remarks.

At the end of the day, I turned in a paper I was not entirely proud of. And while I know I am not defined by this paper, I am still disappointed in myself for letting my lack of time-management get the best of me, for struggling so much with an assignment, for shirking friends, and for ignoring commitments I had made to others.

As I reach the end of this midterm season, I can only hold myself accountable to remember that telling myself I am ‘ahead’ in everything else does not have any bearing on the progress of my paper. Just because I am stressed over one assignment does not give me any excuse to ignore the rest of the world. But similarly, I also need to remember that a paper is just a paper. It should not feel like it will desecrate my entire being if I cannot execute it perfectly.
Hopefully, releasing the burden of this paper let my brain grow back to its normal size and I will remember this moment before my next paper is due.

Taming the Beast

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Six weeks down, ten weeks to go.

I think it’s just about that same time of year for all of us at this point, no not fall (that doesn’t exist here), MIDTERMS. The time of year where we are all so hyped up on coffee and delirious from sleep exhaustion that we don’t even know our own names.

Usually I like to stay pretty cool and collected when it comes to midterms, but I’ll admit I was a little nervous this year. Even though I had midterms when I was in undergrad, my previous graduate school courses in NY didn’t (not even tests). So as you can imagine I was feeling a little nervous about what to expect from my first set of midterms, as I am sure many of the first year students at Scripps are feeling too! I’m happy to say I’m feeling pretty confident after my first midterm and even though it’s still a little nerve-racking, I think I’ll survive!

Here are a few tricks of the trade for those suffering from a little thing I like to call “midterm mania:”

  1. Keep your friends close, but not too close. At least for your first few days of studying! We all know by now that “studying” with a group of friends is actually code for “lets go to Starbucks with our backpacks, drink coffee, and not talk about anything related to learning.” Lets be real, we all do that. So take a few days in the beginning to make your notecards, get a basic knowledge of what you need to know, and then start accepting group study invitations. This will keep you from panicking last minute because all you did was drink coffee with your friends for a week.
  2. Ask questions. The professor is there to help you, not to trick you or fail you on purpose. Chances are your professor may have a review day a week or so before your midterm. Make sure you take that time to ask about any theories you may not understand or how to do certain math problems you are struggling with. This is what the review day is for.
  3. Stop freaking out. Granted, midterms are pretty important and we all want to do well, but I like to remind myself that the midterm is not the only thing that I will be earning points for in class. There are finals, papers, projects, homework, and attendance points to take into account. Yes, attendance points do make a difference. Just remember that though the midterm is important, it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t do as well as you would have hoped.
  4. Relax. Life is about balance, so make sure that you take some time in between studying to do something enjoyable. I’m sure there is some study somewhere that states happier people do better on midterms. Take a few hours or even a day in between the coffee drowned madness to go on a hike, out to pizza with friends, or just spend the day alone watching Netflix in bed still in your pajamas. Whatever makes you happy!
  5. Social media. Get off it. Now.

No matter what year in school you are, don’t forget to have a mini celebration in honor of your midterm mania survival!

Good luck this midterm season, everyone!

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