Last Friday I bid farewell to my Alma Mater, the University of Utah.
FINALLY I’m ready to chillax, focus on our family business, and on my new internship at a downtown marketing agency. FINALLY! Like a friend said a few months ago, “School is like a band-aid I need to just rip off asap.” Funny thing is: I’m NOT done with school. I mean I’m done for now, but I feel like the preparation that I’ve received isn’t enough for me to get a great job. And I don’t feel getting a low-paying job just so I can slowly climb up the ladder, as if I were trying to prove myself every step of the way. (I’d rather start at the top.) Which is why I’ll be applying to a PhD program out-of-state during this upcoming year. Here are a few things I took into account:
- The unemployment rate for Millenials like me is among the highest.
- Marketing/ad agencies aren’t looking for interns. One agency told me recently they had soo much work (despite the economy, which is good), they didn’t have the time to teach different things to a new person. And my dream agency won’t even begin looking for an intern until July.
- I don’t want to work for a little bit of money and then be asked to fetch people’s meals. I’d rather work for free, because at least that way I know I’ll get paid with experience and worthwhile challenges, thankyouverymuch.
- I don’t want to have to climb the ladder slowly, like I said earlier. I’d rather become a highly sought-after marketing authority than have to prove myself and beat all the other hundreds of bachelor-holding peeps I’ll be competing with.
- The pay is out-of-this-world amazing.
- I live with my parents (those two lovely individuals you see in the picture above). Although some consider moving out to be a sign of their “independence,” I couldn’t disagree more. Pus, by living with them, I’m better able to take care of my finances, which better prepares me for the future I want. The way my parents see it, why start worrying about things I don’t need to worry about yet at this stage of my life (i.e. at a time when I should enhance my career prospects by getting more education rather than struggle paying the rent).
Lastly, I have different goals in life. Which is why I received a tough-love type of ultimatum from none other than my parents:
We’re getting our citizenship soon, which means we’ll be able to return to Colombia. And we don’t want to stay in this country so we can watch all that you fought for for many years go to waste at an agency job we know isn’t going to give you much. So either we sell our house here, we move to Colombia and you stay and get a $10/hr job and pay your bills and not make enough for the kind of life you want OR we all stay in this country so you earn your PhD and soon after begin living the life you want.”
- Over-prepared: Perhaps with a PhD I WILL definitely have more than I need to become a marketing intern or even an account manager. But, like I’ve said before, my life goals are a lil’ different: I don’t necessarily dream of having a boss for the rest of my life; I have entrepreneurship in my blood, in my DNA (thank you mom and dad!). So I’ll plan on becoming my own boss.
- Teaching/Research: Don’t college professors consult with independent businesses too? Well there you go! So I know I’ll know more after 5+ years of doing research specializing in a certain area (and teaching my findings to other students and businesses alike) than John Doe and his limited 5 years of experience.
As one U Michigan site put it:
“PhDs carry a certain valuable prestige in many contexts. They are a commodified form of cultural capital, and they can be converted in the right circumstances into financial capital…. The best reason of all to enroll in a doctoral program is because you want to become more intellectually engaged with and more critically sophisticated in the study of some issue or field.