Degree exploration... don't forget the bigger picture!

During the middle of the semester I always catch myself thinking "What am I doing all this work for?". After writing midterms and finishing assignments, the stress can cause you to doubt what you've been working for. A lot of students have been coming in asking about what they can do with their degree simply because they need encouragement to get them through the rest of the semester.

As much as it can become hard to keep pushing through assignments and exams at this point, it is important to know that you are doing all of this work for a reason. You are becoming educated in a field that holds opportunity for the rest of your life. The skills you learn not only from your textbooks but also from you balancing your work are crucial to your success in your future career. You will be able to take on bigger jobs and more stress if you handle it day by day like you have been doing throughout school.

Through every discipline, you can find opportunity. Your drive, persistence, and effort is what will get you that job. Those are the things you learn without realizing when you are working through midterm or exam season. We learn to get through harder and harder exams that produce higher stress levels as we approach graduation. As we accomplish every term, we actively are creating a more innovative individual. As we work through our degree we not only learn the things we need to know about our field but we learn things that apply to the bigger picture or the working world as a whole. Teamwork, communication, conflict resolution, etc. are all the things we learn in every discipline that are connected to real jobs out there. These are the things that can make a successful future.

So, as you are thinking about your degree and the stress of that next assignment, remember that you are doing all of this for a great reason. You are working through this to improve those skills we don't always think about that are crucial in the job market.

If you are concerned about your degree or direction into a career, feel free to come by the Career Resource Centre to talk to a Career Assistant about it.