Tag Archives: grad school

My (Continued) College Experience

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For SUNY Oswego students, this week marks the completion of the fifth week of classes. As a Resident Assistant, I’ve always been of the mind set that for new students, if they complete the first six weeks of school without going home, then the rest of their time here will be a piece of cake. Of course there will be challenges, but there’s a dose of pride to be taken in the idea of being in a completely new environment and making it on your own there for a month and a half. That’s the test. Now, this semester has made that hard with so many days off, but the point still stands: if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere (okay, so maybe that’s not entirely true—I hear this thing called the real world is rough at times—but I digress).

For me, these first five weeks have been a whirlwind. Back in May, I didn’t even know if I would be here. I had just graduated from my undergrad experience right here at Oswego and was still up in the air about whether I wanted to continue my studies. I had gotten into my program of choice, Integrated Media and Social Networks—I studied Broadcasting and Mass Communication to get my Bachelor’s—and had already been hired as an RA again in the building where it all started, Cayuga Hall (the best building on campus). The pieces were there, I just had to figure out how I wanted to piece them together.

I had a few options: I could either come back and work towards an Advanced Certificate that would hopefully land me a better job once the year long program is complete. Or, I could stay at home and continue job searching in the hopes that something good (or just anything in general) will arise. After a long summer of contemplating these two options, I finally decided that returning to Oswego would be the best for me, to give me expanded experience within my field.

Looking back at a personal blog post I had written post-graduation, it’s funny to think that I was so torn back then. It now feels like I had never left and coming back to Oswego has felt so natural. Okay, so maybe some backstory might help. When I say “coming back” I don’t just mean coming back after graduating. During my final semester of senior year, I completed an internship in New York City with a film news website called Indiewire. I left a lot behind, including a lot of friends and responsibilities, in order to do this. So for me, the decision to come back to Oswego wasn’t even just about whether I would want to continue my studies or get a job, it was whether I’d want to continue my studies after being out of that mindset for an entire semester.

What’s the point I’m trying to make? For any new students who may be wondering whether they made the right decision or are feeling overwhelmed in these first few weeks, know that in the moment it may be hard, but if you stick with it, you’ll have a lot to look back on. Your future-self will look back on the good, the bad and the ugly, and probably laugh because your future self can’t imagine ever being that indecisive or worried. So know that it gets better and if those feelings ever arise, just ask yourself this: what would future-me think?

I already have four years here at Oswego under my belt and am looking forward to what this year will bring. I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything, even the bad times (there were plenty). It’s all because I don’t want future-me to look back and regret not taking full advantage of this place. For any new students, you’re going make a lot of memories here if you stick with it. A lot of them will be great, some of them will be bad, but all of it will be an experience.

Wait, what month is it?

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When I started Graduate School in late August of 2012 graduation seemed distant. Now, in the midst of my second semester, it seems to be coming up quicker than I thought. Though most people will explain Graduate School programs in years, 1-3, in the grand scheme of things Graduate School is only 4 semesters. When you break that down, it’s easy to lose track of time when you think of how the semesters themselves get fragmented with school work deadlines and, before you know it, it’s the end of the semester. 5 months flew by and you can barely remember what you did. This made me think about what was important to me, what I needed for professional development, and what I just needed to do to survive.

It was a hard decision to stop doing certain things that I had become accustomed to doing here at SUNY Oswego for the last few years (I received my Bachelor’s Degree from here, too.) I realized that in order to stay sane it was important that I did things that I wanted to do for me and stop thinking about the big picture 24 hours a day. Professional development is important and taking time out to do that is something everyone should do. However, sacrificing happiness now for future happiness wasn’t how I wanted to live my life. So I changed it. I left some things behind, adopted a new attitude, concentrated on a few things instead of a handful, and opened my self, and my schedule, to new experiences. One of the most important things that I’ve picked up along the way is that personal development, learning more about who you are, will help you in the long run when developing yourself professionally. With a more relaxed schedule no longer filled with the stresses of simply too much to do, my spring semester has slowed down in comparison to the fall of 2012. I take my school work one day at a time and leave enough time for me to relax, go nuts, enjoy food, favorite sporting events, and well- anything else I want.

New Chapter

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Hello all,

For those who may not know, I just graduated from Oswego in May, and I must say it still hasn’t hit me that I actually am done there. I guess that’s kind of because I’m in graduate school at Syracuse University now.

As of tomorrow at 4pm, I will have successfully finished my first semester of graduate school with 3 more to go, and I must say I am excited. It’s weird that just three months ago, I was rushing to hand in final papers, and stories. Flash forward to now and I’m rushing to hand in designs, edit feature viedo stories and cover local feature stories.

As much as many recent graduates encourage taking a break between undegrad and grad school, I have truly appreciated going straight though. Since my program is only a year long, I’m basically studying as long as someone my age who may be doing an extra year o undergrad. So in just 5 years, I would had accomplished two degrees. I think that is a great accomplishment and ready to tackle even more.

For now, I’ll be starting fall classes in two weeks, work as the assistant housing director of Bryant and Stratton College, and TA an undergraduate journalism ethics class. This may seem like a lot, but in fall 2011, I had three jobs, three internships, three class, while also working as the president of a club and an RA. So this should be a breeze right?

Although I’m no longer a student at Oswego, I would love to keep writing on this blog and kind of show a glimpse into post-graduate life. The ups and downs. Good, bad. ugly. And whatever other cliché outcome that comes mind.

To commemorate a successful first semester at Syracuse and say goodbye to a hectic last semester at Oswego, I leave you with this video. It is my first multimedia piece from grad school. I’ve done work like this before, but I am especially proud of this video in particular because it marks the beginning of something great for me… my career as a multimedia communications professional.