The G-Word
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Slope Song
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My parents are not allowed to say the “G-word” in front of me.
In fact, as I have moved into a house of seven girls in Collegetown, returned to classes on the Hill, commitments, friends, giving half-smiles to that kid I met in Appel in October of freshman year (and haven’t had a conversation with since) and all other aspects of Cornelliana, I have been attempting to push May 25, 2008 as far into the future as it can go.
When asked about post-college plans, all I can do is demurely smile and say I’m feeling non-committal. How can I commit to law school when that means giving up another fabulous opportunity that could be just around the corner? It doesn’t matter that I’m not even sure what that opportunity may possibly be.
This isn’t a sensation unique to senior year; it doesn’t automatically register as you enroll for classes on Just the Facts the August before you’re scheduled to change your Facebook status to “Alum.” My desire to explore as many aspects of the post-college realm as possible and ambivalence to commit to one certain path have been brewing throughout my time at Cornell, and I have yet to find a direction that will temper and fuse those emotions.
As a liberal arts major whose classes require writing policy memos rather than accounting statements, I spent my junior year searching for any summer job that would give me “real world” experience and exposure to an option I would consider or rule out for pursuing after Cornell. With those (admittedly) vague parameters, I started my search at the College of Arts and Science’s Career Services office. I met with an assistant dean and when told I was interested in government, she directed me towards their book collection and said I could find opportunities in books printed in 2003. Visiting Cornell Career Services at Barnes Hall was a similarly unremarkable experience.
What I really wanted was guidance and advice as to how to apply my education in the “real world” in a way that would maintain the balance between helping society and self-advancement. More so than anything else, I sought “experiential” advice — which experiences (jobs, internships, fellowships, abroad opportunities) could help point me in the direction I ultimately saw for myself.
The most amazing aspect of Cornell is its students’ incredible diversity and depth of passions. Cornell students are well on their way to making names for themselves in the field of their choice — whether it is the future senator/current government major who interns on Capitol Hill or the biology major who wants to work towards finding a cure for AIDS and does research on the spread of HIV in Haiti.
But what about those who aren’t yet propelled on a set path? While we do occasionally approach the cliché of “liberal arts major unemployed after graduation,” we aren’t necessarily aimless or lost, but in need of advising that is currently not offered by Cornell. Where are the resources on campus that can help us develop a plan for our near futures? The job assumed after graduation is only one piece of a Cornellian’s post-graduation experience — students also need to consider what standard-of-living does the job or opportunity bring. Could it lead to an ideal job in the future? And what opportunities will be passed up in the meantime?
What frustrates me most about my experience with “experiential” guidance at the University is that Cornell students are the most driven people I know. We care deeply about effecting change in the student organizations we lead, the world we live in and the university we study at. We not only want to succeed at whatever we set out to do, but also want to leave it with our distinctive mark. The same drive that we apply in planning the biggest soiree of the semester at our houses in Collegetown is the one that brings us to Olin Libe until it closes at 2 a.m. — studying, writing a paper or campus organization powwows in Libe Café.
That is the drive I will continue to apply this year to my on-campus commitments and, while it’s difficult to imagine life after 10:10s and face-time at CTB, to my post-“G-word” search, as well.
I only wish I had some “G-word” of another kind to help me out: experiential guidance.
Elana Beale is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at erb26@cornell.edu. Slope Song will appear alternate Mondays this semester.