Now that I am a senior and college graduation is only 5 months away, the question I seem to be constantly asked is “So, what do you want to do after college?”. I find myself becoming more and more frustrated each time I hear this question because the truth is: I don’t know!

I graduated high school in 2015 with no idea what I wanted to study in college. I liked the idea of becoming a teacher and always enjoyed my Spanish classes throughout middle school and high school. My grandfather and my mom were both teachers, which also sparked my interest in teaching. I figured, why don’t I combine the two subjects and become a Spanish teacher?

So, I began my freshman year of college certain that I would become a Spanish teacher. I began taking classes that would prepare me to apply into the Education program here. I really liked the classes and put in an immense amount of effort and time into making sure I was doing well in them. I met with multiple advisors from the College of Education who gave me guidance on how to build my resume in order to gear it towards teaching. The advisor I spoke to encouraged me to become a camp counsellor or an assistant teacher because those are two appealing job experiences when applying into the program. I ended up working as a camp counsellor during the summer of 2016 and became an assistant teacher at the Center for Early Education and Care here in Amherst in January 2017. I loved both of these experiences and at the time, I believed they confirmed my dreams of becoming a teacher.

Sophomore year, it became time to prepare to apply into the Education program. It required me to pass one of the MTEL’s, which is a standardized test in which you must pass in order to teach in the state of Massachusetts. I prepared so much and studied very hard and ended up passing the test. I was so excited. The next step was to apply into the program and see if I was accepted. The next thing I knew, I got into the program. I was ecstatic. I attended the welcome meeting to learn more about the program in detail and what it would take to be a double major in both Spanish and Education.

I was disappointed to learn that I was not far along enough in my primary major, Spanish, to complete the Education major on time to graduate in May of 2019. I tried to see if there was any possibility of taking Winter and Summer classes to complete both degrees, but it was going to be way too expensive to take that route. Additionally, I learned that it is nearly impossible to study abroad when you are in the Education program and I knew that studying abroad was an experience that I really wanted to prioritize throughout my college career.

From there, I made the decision to take the necessary prerequisite courses in order to apply into a one year graduate Master’s program here at UMass Amherst after graduation. I continued taking Education classes, set on the idea that I wanted to teach. Throughout my first semester junior year, I started thinking about where I would would want to apply to graduate school if I did not want to do the one at UMass.

After studying abroad in Madrid, I had a change of heart. It wasn’t as if I decided that I didn’t want to teach, I just simply started to consider other options. Over the summer, I came to the conclusion that I really was not sure if I wanted to dive right into teaching after graduating this May. It is not that I have decided to complete abandon the idea, I just have decided that I want to explore other career options. I have a lot of college loans to pay back from my undergraduate career, and I do not think it is a good idea to jump right into graduate school and take out more loans if I am not completely certain that is what I want to do with my future.

I started working as a Campus Student Ambassador for Study Abroad Apartments this Fall, which is the company that I rented my apartment through in Madrid. I was responsible for marketing the company and promoting it through a wide variety of social media platforms. I really liked this position and it sparked my interest in Marketing. I began thinking to myself, should/could I pursue a career in Marketing?

I decided to meet with Caroline Gould, an HFA career advisor. She provided me with a lot of helpful advice and guidelines. I ended up attended a career fair here at UMass in order to “dip my toes” into the professional world. It was a great experience in terms of speaking to different organizations, companies, and professionals, and to become more comfortable talking about myself. I also attended a UMass Alumni Networking event where I met a variety of different alumni who graduated from UMass. It was a great opportunity to network and put myself in contact with some companies that interested me. Caroline reminded me how important it is to have internships and experience in order to become more marketable to companies. Shortly after meeting with her, I secured a Marketing internship next semester with a non-profit organization here in Amherst called Family Diversity Projects. I am really eager to get more hands on experience working with Marketing to see if it is a potential career path that I want to take. Although I am interested in Marketing, I have not closed off other options. I am truly open to trying out anything for the first few years after college, such as Sales, Recruiting, and/or Account Management.

Sometimes it is frustrating being a Spanish major because I feel as though when people ask you want you want to do with your degree, they expect you to say you want to be a teacher, a translator, or an interpreter. Although all of these careers interest me, I do not think they are the only career options available for students with a degree in Spanish. I feel as though my Spanish degree has provided me with a well-rounded experience and education here at UMass, and I believe I could take the skills I have learned and apply my knowledge of the Spanish language to nearly any job position.

It definitely is a scary and overwhelming thought to know that I do not know exactly what it is that I want to do upon graduation. However, I know that there are plenty of people that are in and have been in the same position as me. I know a handful of people that are currently pursuing careers that are completely unrelated to their degree. I am not saying that I do not want to do anything involving Spanish, I am only saying that I do not see it as my only option. Although I have put teaching on the back burner for the time being, I do think it is possible that I may end up wanting to pursue it. There is so much pressure to be able to pinpoint exactly what you want to take as a career path. So take the advice from me, a senior who is graduating in 5 months with no idea what path she is going to take, whether you are a freshman, sophomore, junior, or even a senior; it is ok to not know exactly what you want to do! My best advice to you would be to take advantage of every opportunity out there; apply for the job even if you don’t think you will get it and take the internship even if it seems a little boring because you might learn something or end up loving it. Staying positive is key and being open-minded is absolutely essential. Make sure to use the resources available to you, such as career advisors, academic advisors, and attending all of the event thats UMass hosts to help students get jobs/internships! There are so many people here to guide you through the stress of career planning. Do not feel like you are alone, because I promise you are not!