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By Meagan Phelan, Writing Tutoring Instructor,

Prepped & Polished, LLC

The college experience is rich in choices. You couldbe a double major or pursue two minors. After class,

you could go to soccer practice, drama club, debate

team, or band. You might study abroad one

semesteror maybe even two. You could also have a

boyfriend or girlfriend on campus, begin mentoring

younger students, or spend a lot of time with older

ones, just hanging out.

What do all of these different activities hold in

common?

Theyll command your attentionand a lot of it.

In fact, it could be pretty easy to graduate just

having enjoyed the college experienceand evenhaving excelled at itwithout looking beyond, to the

next chapter, to contemplate the application of

college to your life.

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Contemplating what college will mean for you in your

mid-twenties, thirties, and beyond might be an idea

that seems fairly hazy right now (after all, many of

you reading this blog are just doing the hard work to

get into collegea major feat in itself). So Ive

thought of five questions you could ask yourself

throughout the course of your college careerfrom

day one til your lastto help make this thought

process relevant now.

Here we go:

1) What industries are booming now, and

which ones are saturated?

Forbes Magazine is a great source for information

like this. A quick look at the fastest growing

industries may reveal some, like manufacturing or

cattle ranching, for example, that youve never

considered. But these businesseslike mostrequire

communicators, leaders, technicians, and people of

all kinds to think outside the box and keep them

connected and stable. You wouldnt need a

background in manufacturing or cattle ranching to

make a significant contribution. You would need a

strong set of skills in one of the abovementioned

fields and awareness that these industries are

hungry.

Its equally important to know which industries arent

as open to job applicants. If youre planning to

pursue one, contemplate what skills to develop to set

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yourself apart.

2) What are three different types of jobs people

who pursued my major have done, or aredoing?

Get to know some of those people. Ask if you might

email or call them from time to time to understand

how what they learned in college is helping them in

their current role. Ask them what gaps they had in

their learning. Maybe you could take one of the

classes they wished theyd taken.

3) What is my elevator pitch?

Can you explain your interests and strengthsand

even how you want to apply them to your tentative

career goalsin the time itd take you to ride the

elevator a few floors?

Youll often need to present a similar pitch in job

interviews, but more importantly, stating your

intentions for your career aloud forces you to clarify

them in your own mind. Thoughts that floated

around comfortably in your head may come across

as phony once spoken.

Sometimes the results of this exercise are surprising,

particularly if you let people who know you well

weigh in on what you say.

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4) Where is the nearest business thatd let me

shadow for a day?

Even if you dont yet know what line of work youdlike to pursue, just getting out of the classroom and

into a working environment offers important lessons,

including the roles communication skills and thinking

ahead play in successfully managing people. You

might also learn about new cross-industry

technologies that businesses are usingand hope

their employees will walk in the door knowing.

Check out a previous post, here, for more details on

the values of shadowing: The Importance of

Internships & Work Experiences While in High School

5) What are my friends thinking of doing after

college?

Though this question could make your friends a little

uneasy, its ok to ask it. For starters, youre all most

likely in the same boat, especially in the first year or

twowithout a clear cut vision of just what youll do

with your college degree. Secondly, hearing your

friends think through the process of how they will

apply what they will learn may give you some ideas.

Lots of people talk about questions to ask before you

get to collegeand these are important questions to

consider. You want to find a good fit for your four-

year journey.

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But I propose staying just as inquisitive during your

collegiate experience. Doing a little each week so

you get comfortable with the hard parts.

Evaluating your efforts regularly as you make your

way to graduation will mean youre not nervous

when you get there. Youll be able to celebrate both

the closing of that chapter, and the beginning of the

next.

Meagan Phelan holds an M.A. in Science Writing from

The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD and aB.A. in Biology from Gettysburg College in

Gettysburg, Pa. She has freelanced as a science

writer and is a Fulbright Scholar. She currently works

as a Senior Writer and Editor at AIR Worldwide, a

catastrophe risk modeling firm based in Boston.

What other questions should you ask yourself

while at college? Any other tips youd like to

share?