I would like to start off saying that I invested money and
my time into getting a degree from the university of Illinois. By doing this I
strive to get a better education in order to get a good job when I get out of
college with a good salary in order to pay off my debts and start investing the
money I make into my future and my family’s future. Currently I am involved in
multiple clubs on campus that require a form of payment per semester but guarantee
to look good on any resume. One of them is the finance club where we have to
pay $20 in order to be in it (the money is usually used to find speakers to
come and talk to us about different jobs or opportunities in life. I am also
and executive on CRFB (Central Residence Funding Board) where we allocate money
to different organizations on campus that want the money in order to take
students to field trips or organize themselves an event on campus that is strictly
for residence students. I am currently double majored in economics and computer
science because this is the route that I see giving me the best opportunities
in life and it will help me build a long lasting career in any industry that I
want. I hope that with these majors in combination with all of the clubs that I
am part of it will truly help find my place in life and workplace.
I do not have any other siblings so I am not able to see
which route they decided to take and if it was worth in the end. The closest
that I have is a family friend who finished at Northwestern and decided one
summer to take an internship in downtown Chicago. He said that even though he
would work close to 12 hours a day for no much pay he was able to learn a lot
of things in which he can use to his advantage for the current job that he has.
He gave me some advice and suggested that when it comes time for me to apply
for internships I should really not look at the amount of money that they pay
us but at the potential experience that you can gain from doing this
internship. Even though he in finance he took a job that dealt with both the
financial side of everything but also had an engineering aspect to things. This
way he was able to really get a different look at things and how they work. When
I choose an internship I will surely want to make sure that this internship not
only is in what I want to do for the rest of my life but it should also help me
see things different which based on my friend’s internship is a secret weapon
that will put you over others in a job.
All of the decisions from me deciding to go to college to me
joining different clubs at different prices are all done for the sole reason to
get a good job and be financially stable once I am out of college. Although I
didn’t make a bank loan to pay for my college I did make a loan from my parents
so I don’t have to pay high interest rates but nonetheless one day I will still
need to pay them back for all of the money they paid for my education.
I think that the fact you were able to gain advice from your family friend is great and would be really useful. I know a lot of people who are stuck in this mind thought that students only get internships after their junior year, but I think looking for internships younger than that is very beneficial. You mentioned that your family friend didn't make a lot of money at his internship, something that I think is very common, which is why I think students should look for internships regardless of their year and age because it is great experience and companies are always looking for a cheaper labor in interns.
ReplyDeleteSomething you didn't mention is if you know what you want to do after graduation as a career, even just potentially. I think that that would say a lot about income risk. You did mention that you are in a finance club, so if that's what you're looking to do I would say that, typically, you would be pretty set financially in comparison to other career paths. In terms of what you did mention, I would definitely agree that you have managed risk wisely by attending this university and becoming as involved as you have.
I am not one hundred percent sure which route I want to take, this is why I have not closed any doors yet although I narrowed it down a lot. I have a lot of interest in the stock market and the business/finance world but I also enjoy computers and programming. I find the two very different because I can see myself programming for fun but I can never really see myself programming for someone else as a job while on the other hand I can see myself doing research in the stock market and being involved into the business world to try to help others while I can also help myself become financially stable.
DeleteYour friend gave you some good advice on internships, they make a big difference when it comes to looking for a job. My brother graduated from here and had a tough time finding a job due to his lack of experience. People with internships were the ones who took the jobs form him. I went to the career fair as a sophomore and secured an internship, just not for the best opportunity. Regardless, it was a huge learning experience for me, and it developed me to be the professional that I am to this day. With that said, I had much more success at the career fair this year because of that internship experience, recruiters were very interested in what I was doing all summer and were very impressed that I was only a sophomore in the position.
ReplyDeleteDid you talk to your parents when it came to choosing your majors? With me, I listened to them for guidance as to what would limit my income risk. Also, have you considered what you want to do out of school or what type of company you can see yourself working for?
Using your parents as a bank, because they have better access to capital than you do at present, is quite sensible. I'm glad you wrote about it. I have mentioned it in commenting on other student posts. It is good to see a real instance of this.
ReplyDeleteThat said, and given that you are the only child, there is a general issue about what is gift versus what is loan and if ultimately there will be a bequest of some sort. Parents who are well off typically do want to provide income to their offspring. And with that there is the issue of the timing of such a gift. Paying for college, when done by the parents, can be thought of as a bequest. My parents, who had been prepared to pay for my medical school education had I gone that route, gave me money for a new car purchase when I got my PhD. I wasn't expecting that at the time. It was certainly a pleasant surprise.
Regarding the advice your friend said about getting the right sort of experience, that sounds right to me as long as you can afford the internship regardless of what it pays. It also seems to me right to understand as much of the operation of a company as you can. That should help you progress in the company down the road.
I am writing this comment on Tuesday morning. Your post only showed up in my reader then. I'm not sure why there was this lag. I apologize for not commenting on your post until now.
I agree that if the parents can provide/loan out money they should because by doing that their children won't be stuck paying back their student loans for most of their life. One of our family friends is still paying his student loans 20 years after he graduated. I am glad that my parents were able to give me this opportunity and I will gladly want to pay them back one day. I am currently double majoring in economics and computer science so my goal for this summer was to get an internship in economics to see if I like this route better than the computer science field (since I've already done computer science internships in the past). I will have to balance out how much they pay and my opportunity with the company offering the internship.
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