New Purpose- the Beyond Part

So I have decided that i like it here at blogger.com. I have decided that I like it so much that I am going to chronicle my last year of undergraduate college here. Since I am attempting to do an internship, keep my two jobs AND apply to grad schools I doubt it will be anything but eventful. I guess now comes that "beyond" part of my title as I look towards preparing for my adult life, *gulp*

So, first order of business: I am trying to get an internship at the Worcester Antiquarian society for the school year. I had emailed the intern coordinator in the spring and he advised me to contact him again sometime in August to see if we could set something up. Well, this morning I sent off my follow-up email with my availability (since he had asked for it to be included with my follow up). I'm very nervous to hear back. See, I'm planning on applying for not just a library sciences program in grad school but one with a concentration in archives and records management and the first questions everyone who is a professor/in academia asks is: Well, how did you get into that? What experience do you have with archives?

The answer is, well, none, really. I have been IN archives and have discovered a love for history in college and pairing history with print seems to bring my love of reading and history together in a way that is intellectually interesting without being extremely stressful. I don't want a high stress job (though will NOT tell employers that because it gives the impression I CANT handle stress which isn't true) or one in an extremely competitive field (read: business, law, etc). It would wear me down I'm sure. Yet I want a professional job. This seems like the best compromise so that I can put my education to use while still being happy at the workplace. However, this internship would be a test to see if it IS what it think it is. Also I NEED an internship on my resume, BADLY!!!

So, hopefully there is something available, I'm very nervous because I chose NOT to go through Holy Cross, which provides internships in every field but this it seems because most internship students are aiming for resume gold, meaning big companies and important positions but that's just not what I want or need as wonderful as I KNOW it looks on a resume. I want something focused on MY career goals - which this is.

But anyway, onto that whole grad school thing. My boss at study abroad keeps trying to encourage me to apply to university of Washington since he says i'd love it there and it's tied with UNC chapel hill for best lib sci program in the country. However, it's in seattle. I have no interest in rain and the part of the west coast that does not involve palm trees or san franscico. So. maybe. Also, both my boss and advisor have told me they arent sure I should even go to grad school if I dont get a scholarship since my field isnt likely to rake in enough money to justify the debt it will bring.

I was feeling a bit discouraged by this mindset but my dad had a good point: well if not grad school then what? It's not like I have another career goal in mind that i could pursue right after college. If this is what I want to do then I have to go to grad school. I would be panicked and floundering for something to make ends meet if I didnt go to grad school. i would take whatever job I qualified for because I dont really know what else I'd do if not something in this field. I'd be unhappy. So that settled it for me. If this is what I truly WANT to do then I'm not going to listen to these people no matter how professional they are.

So that's where I stand on those two fronts. This is going to possibly be the scariest year of my life. Commitments:

Editor of the Purple, Holy Cross' literary journal
Second Semester cochair of Allies
Study Abroad Student Assistant
English Student assistant
AAS internship
English honors program thesis

...And I want to be in the fashion show BSU puts on in mechanics hall. I saw it last year and vowed I would do it before I graduated. It's so...cool!!

So let's see if I can make it. I have my GRE book out in front of me, gearing up for success and the word of the day is Peregrination coz I'm goin places! ;)