Help Wanted: From graduation to gainful employment

Amanda Hoffstrom

I still haven’t grasped the fact that I’ve attended my last college class. It seems so surreal. I have three papers and one final exam before my undergraduate experience is over. Forever. Maybe it’s so difficult to believe because of my current after-school job status—unemployed. It makes the thought of leaving school all the more terrifying.

As I walked to my last class on Friday, however, I wondered whether it truly would be my last class. If I don’t have a job in a year (scary thought), will I be more inclined to go to graduate school like other students in the Class of 2009? College newspapers around the country have reported that students are forgoing the job search in favor of an advanced degree:

• Graduate school applicants rise with economic fall, Source | The Maneater
• Economy boosts graduate enrollment, Source | The Lariat
• As recession thickens, more flock to grad school, Source | Indiana Daily Student
• In tight job market, graduate school gains popularity, Source | Daily Pennsylvanian
• Jobless students flock to academia, Source | Yale Daily News

For about two weeks last fall, I considered applying to grad school under the pretense that I wouldn’t be able to find a job, but I decided to take the gamble that I would find something I was more passionate about than one to four more years of school. I don’t doubt that eventually I will go back to school to get my master’s degree when I’m ready, but for now I want to join the workforce.

On May 17, I will graduate from a top journalism school, ready to start my new job—working full-time to market myself as a one-of-a-kind employee. And honestly, I can’t wait to start.