The Ninth Semester

Temp Time

lsf2 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:02:39 +0000

From: careereducation@columbia.edu

Subject: Temp Time 7/9/09

Date: July 9, 2009 1:58:20 PM EDT

To: lsf2

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Childcare (0 opportunities)

Tutoring (1 opportunity)

Office Work (0 opportunities)

Misc (2 opportunities)

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Am I doomed to a future of Temp Time? The Columbia list serve of temporary job opportunities floods my inbox weekly.

Money Making Opportunities of the Week:

Read a “popular psychology manuscript” about romance and answer questions. Compensation: $75
Experiment with mice. Compensation: $8.50/hr
Tutor 7^th grade twins. Compensation: negotiable

Forced to choose between lab rats and seventh graders, I remain in the red.

Reconsidering Grad School

lsf2 — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:04:31 +0000

“Piled Higher and Deeper” by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com

College vs. Career

lsf2 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:09:57 +0000

You know the story: The economy is plummeting. The job market is… what job market? But thousands of students graduate college each year seeking a career.

I am a rising senior at Columbia College living and studying in New York. When I was a freshman, “real life” was a blurry vision of stilettos, manila folders and skyscraping offices with floor to ceiling windows. I was the head of a marketing team, the founder of an NGO. The world was my oyster. It was open and exciting. I wanted nothing more than to finish the race to graduation, get a job, an apartment, and a life I could call my own.

My vision today, although just as blurry, is a bit bleaker. I am no longer bounding towards the finish line, but desperately clinging to the rocks that line the path. The crumbling dorm rooms, the massive libraries and ivy-adorned campus, the schedule of handpicked classes, and the elite student body: once obstacles to dodge and hurdle, now the rocks by which I rest.

As graduation nears, this summer feels like a trial run: a preview of my life without school, without direction and possibly without a job.

The Ninth Semester is in anticipation of graduation – the semester defined by its lack of classes and a whole new type of education… unless I resort to grad school that is. This blog is a place to explore how people my age are coming to terms with the transition between college and “real life” in the current economic situation: What is available to us? How do we define our selves and our futures when school fades into the background and careers remain a mere glimmer in the eye?