Written by Wise ASSC blog intern and La Trobe student Steph.
Hello everyone! Welcome to my FINAL instalment of my series – the Top 5 Lessons I’ve Learnt at Uni.
I wanted to finish with what I think is the most important lesson I’ve learnt so far: you’ve got this!
While we’re at uni, we’re told by alumni and senior students to go out and get experience, make your LinkedIn profile beautiful, network, get good grades and seek out opportunities wherever you can.
Of course, these things are important. But we’re told these things by these people when they’re already standing on top of the mountain – they’re usually very successful students, with a resume filled with industry experience and a graduate position already lined up.
I would often look to these people and think to myself “Oh my god, what am I DOING?! Should I be getting more experience? Should I look for another job? Should I volunteer somewhere?” I would start sending myself into a tailspin about all the things I should be doing.
I guess, from the outset it might seem like I have it all together. I recently got a job in the legal industry and I’m just finishing up an incredible media internship with La Trobe University. But don’t get me wrong, I definitely had those moments where I thought to myself “What am I DOING?!”
My first few years at university were filled with mistakes, errors and stumbles along the way. I worried about my lack of industry experience and lack of direction about what I wanted to do once I finished my degree. My motivation went through peaks and troughs, I wondered if I chose the right course, and I doubted my ability to make it in either one of the industries I was interested in.
Throw in a global pandemic and learning remotely in the middle, and as you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly all smooth sailing.
Uni is hard – not only are you trying to figure out who you are, you’re suddenly asked what you want. Which job? Which industry? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? If you’re anything like me, you might just want to yell “I DON’T KNOW, OKAY?!”
I guess what I’m trying to say is give yourself a break. Don’t freak out if you’re in the “What am I DOING?!” phase or feel like you should be doing more. Everything and everyone around you might give you messages that it’s imperative to get it together. But it’s kind of not. Your path is your own, and you will travel it in your own time, in your own way.
So, that concludes my Top 5 Lessons I’ve Learnt at Uni. I LOVED writing this series and I hope my lessons have helped you in some way!
Steph