Help wanted

I’ll be the first person to say that I’m a largely independent student; it’s not often that I ask for help. Part of it may have to do with some untouchable heap of pride, or just a general desire to do the work to help myself if I can.

However, I wish I had asked for advice in choosing a wise and practical, yet satisfying college major when I walked through the doors of PUC my freshman year, and again when I changed majors my sophomore year.

I’ve been working hard in school all of my life, so I think it goes without saying that I wasn’t going to waste the Chancellor’s Scholarship I earned. There are no words to express how grateful I am to have been able to save all of my earnings from jobs, birthdays and Christmases. But, looking back now, there was something missing: career guidance.

I think university administrators, if they’re investing large sums of money into student scholarships, would have the interest of setting aside some time and resources to offer the guidance that I’m talking about. I’m sure that assistance is floating around somewhere on campus, but even if it is, I’ve never heard about it.

Of course, I love writing and I’d like to think that I have what it takes to pursue a career in the journalism field when I graduate, but there’s something to say about the decline in the newspaper industry. I can’t forget to mention that my research shows that most entry-level journalism jobs pay less than what I earned at my last serving job at a local diner.

People may think career counseling is a waste of time, but I think it is something PUC should make mandatory for all new students, whether they hold a scholarship or not. If the prospect of having each individual student complete private, once-a-month counseling sessions for the first semester, then why not create group career counseling?

In my opinion, one freshman experience classes doesn’t produce real, honest facts and thought-provoking questions about your prospective career path. There needs to be more honesty about what you really do in certain careers, the expectations and even the future of some jobs. If someone had been that honest to me, I wouldn’t have chosen to be a nursing major and I probably wouldn’t have chosen to switch to journalism.

Better yet, students should be required to complete a year of general education courses before declaring a major.