Know what you're getting yourself into

thentheresme
Fri, 14 Jun 2013 23:30:30 +0000

Going to continue to beat the dead horse, but I also couldn’t disagree with you more. Yours is one experience, and honestly the only time I have ever heard of someone downright hating WashU who also didn’t do anything about it. Every person I know who disliked WashU (and that would actually be only “person” singular) transferred out once they realized it wasn’t for them.

I have loved every second of my time at WashU. I came to WashU because I wanted to keep growing and learning and be challenged rather than coasting through the next four years. Despite how hard it is and despite the fact that I was told within the first week of starting my first major classes that I should never expect to get an A, and would receive an A- if I was extremely lucky, my time at WashU has been incredibly rewarding and amazing in every way I ever hoped my college experience would be. When you put 6,000 high-achieving students together in one place, everyone is not going to get As. That’s just the way it works. No one ever said college would be easy. Part of growing up is beginning to realize that high school was as easy as it was ever going to get, and it’s only uphill from there. But I couldn’t have asked for a better learning environment than WashU, which has always been incredibly positive, nurturing, and has pushed me to excell rather than asking me to fail. Also, I’ve definitely had the chance to go out often (though not as much as I would have liked recently, but that is my own fault and no one elses and I take full responsibility for taking on more than I could handle).

And no one said that it was easy to find a job in the current market (though most seniors I know either had jobs by graduating or have recently accepted one or are continuing to gradschool). Despite being a member of the least-known school at WashU (really, no one in design has heard of it, aside from one company I applied to that a fellow WashU student had interned at the previous summer), I’ve still gotten internships I’m proud of. I’ve gotten jobs because I pushed as hard in my job/internship search as hard as I push and work in school. You have to cast your net as wide as possible (I’m not exaggerating when I say I applied to approximately 50 places) and not be too picky because everything is a learning experience.

I will agree though that the career advisors aren’t always the best, but if you keep going to them and make them work with you, they will. There’s also so many of them that if you don’t like the one you’re working with, there has to be one that works for you. As for the b-school advisors, I thought they were incredibly helpful the two times I was there (I was considering a second major or a minor in the b-school at one point…not anymore).

In all honesty, it seems like you didn’t know what you were getting into when you came to WashU. Since it doesn’t seem like you’re graduated yet (?), you still have time to get things together. College is what you make of it, and I can’t help but reiterate the need for a positive attitude. At times, this school has been incredibly hard academically and socially, but by putting a positive spin on things I’ve always made it through.

I seriously hope that things look up for you. I understand you’re coming from a place that seems impossible, but I’m sure everything will turn around eventually.

Also this post is incredibly rambling and probably non-sensical but I, like everyone else, really felt the need to respond…