Just Ask
Entering college, my entire world was flipped on its head. The familiarity of school, living with my parents, and having the same group of friends was comforting, but it was all gonna change at a moment’s notice. I started my first week of college on August 25th. Living by myself, attending a new campus, and being in a city away from friends and family was a shock.
I knew this change was coming, but it still hit me like a truck. But I knew no one was gonna come and save me except myself, and the opportunities I wanted weren’t gonna come after me unless I put myself out there. Being a transfer student is a unique experience. I can’t simply slack off now that I’m in college; instead, I have to turn up the gears more than ever. I need my application to be as competitive as possible if I want to transfer into one of my dream universities in two years. Being fired up more than ever to work hard these two years, I had a couple of plans to make my application as competitive as I could make it all while improving my general well-being.
My main goals over these two years were to get a job, find an internship/volunteering opportunity, and run a blog related to my major. Besides maintaining a 4.0 GPA (fingers crossed), I felt like having these extracurriculars would take me to another level when going through admissions while also better my life and experiences. How would I achieve these goals? Two words, just ask.
Yes, it’s that simple and straightforward, but sometimes people forget the basics. I have taken steps towards all three of those goals, all by just asking people for help. I have never had a formal job before, and I was extremely jealous of all my friends who had a parent or family member who just handed them a job. I didn’t have the luxury of nepotism, but I did have the luxury of having enough confidence to just ask. I have filled more online job applications than I can count, yet none of them did anything for me. It all changed when I finally decided to start calling these companies myself. One Sunday evening, I decided to sit down and call 15 different companies in my area and asked each of them to speak to their hiring manager. 1 week later, I had three interviews and finally accepted my first job offer at Panda Express.
One afternoon of being confident enough to speak to strangers gave me more opportunities than weeks of filling out online applications did. Applied this same just ask principle to every aspect of my life. I asked my professor if he knew about any internship/volunteering opportunities, he said yes, and we now have a meeting set up next week regarding the next steps I should take. I suggested to my best friend Jayden (the founder of studentpreneurs) a while ago over summer that we should create a business or economics-related blog, and here I am writing my first article.
The moral of the story is, don’t be afraid to ask people. Whether it’s a stranger, a professor, or your best friend, opportunity is just a conversation away.
