#firstworldpains
It’s Winter Quarter junior year and you have realized graduation is looming. You’ve made lists of the classes that you need to take to finish your requirements to get that all-so-important piece of paper next June. Too bad you just realized economics isn’t really your thing. And now it’s too late to change your major. I mean, you just declared this one last quarter so you are pretty behind as it is. What’s an overachieving, disinterested kid to do? Intel has some immediate and long-term solutions to help you with that midwinter, future freak-out.
Undergraduate Research
So maybe you decided you wanted to finally fit in with every other college kid in the country and get a psych degree. Since it’s too late for that, why not try to get involved in undergraduate research? Working with a professor can provide research experience and knowledge of an area you’ve never studied before. And sometimes they will pay you. It’s really a win win.
Find yourself an internship
You went through rush the winter of your freshman year for a reason: to make connections. Sure those connections have been the ones holding your hair after a long night at the Deuce, but they’re also the ones with very successful parents. Finally cash in on the perks of Greek life and send some shameless emails. Land yourself a paid internship and relocate this summer.
Cry to your advisor
There are two types of people at NU. The ones who bother their advisors on a weekly basis for advice about their future career plans and the ones who didn’t even know they had an advisor. These people are crazy knowledgeable and sometimes really connected. Hit them up and they might be able to hook you up with a cool internship or help you organize a new game-plan. And crying never hurts. Make them feel like they have to solve your life problems for you. It’s called outsourcing and everybody’s doing it.
Get a certificate, add a minor, or change your concentration
OK, so three years in and you finally figured out no one wants to hire a philosophy major for anything. Well, maybe they’ll hire one to file papers. But a college degree typically means you expect a bigger paycheck than that girl that got hired through the temp agency. So scratch that. You’re a philosophy major and won’t get a job unless you add an Integrated Marketing Communications certificate. Plus you’ve changed your major three times and you have all these random classes—put them to toward an all encompassing minor (international studies, anyone?).
Global Engagement Summer Institute
Think your quarter-life crisis is bad? Try a trip to the third world for some perspective. After teaching English for hours, skipping showers, and contracting a bizarre parasite, the lakefront won’t seem like such a bad place after all. Sometimes you just gotta be thankful for what you’ve got, ya know?
Eat endless amounts of Andy’s
Even if you’re a fifth-year senior, it’s never too late for that freshman 15 to add some extra love to your lovehandles. And because of the current icy weather, most students are more likely to be holed up in the library than hanging out at a frozen custard joint, which enables you to inhale your snack with little to no judgments from peers. It’s high time to lighten your emotional weight by eating all your negative feelings about your dark future as a cashier at Andy’s.
Drink
When all else fails, buy yourself a case of beer or cuddle up with a bottle of wine and drown your sorrows.
