Being a third year sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I love how much I have matured, I love having a solid group of friends and I love taking on leadership roles in extracurriculars. I am done with tedious requirements, I’m comfortable with talking to professors, I’m constantly cooking my own meals and I’m on and track toward an allegedly legit career. Yet, here I am with less than a month of school and without a summer job. It sucks.
“What are you up to this summer?” has quickly become the most infuriating question I am faced with on a daily basis. Long gone are the days of high school, a time where I had job security at my local YMCA. Now, I am smarter, more mature, and have an actual resume, but apparently that means nothing to potential employers. I swear students in Comm School just ask me this question so they can boast about working for some hedge fund in Manhattan where they will make enough money in one summer to pay a year’s tuition.
Perhaps I haven’t looked enough. Perhaps this is a side effect of being a liberal arts major. Perhaps it’s bad luck. I naively thought being a U.Va. student would give me an advantage. Instead, I am often found at Para Coffee — I refuse to call it Grit — furiously typing cover letters and sending it to every job listing on CavLink or LinkedIn.
Some organizations offer me glimmers of hope in their replies to my desperate emails. Nothing is as motivating or reassuring as applying for an internship that gives you a confirmation email that goes something like:
“Dear Leah,
Thank you for applying for the position at [insert a company name that probably doesn’t pay interns]. Our HR team will get back to you if there is a match, but unfortunately, we cannot get back to you unless you are chosen for an interview. Thank you and good luck.”
Really? You will not even shoot me an email of rejection. An email saying, “Dear Leah, We did not like you enough,” would be much more heartfelt than no email at all. Please put me out of my agony, potential employers! If I have read over my resume more times than any term paper I have ever submitted, the least you could do is send me a rejection email.
However, as I learned from Hillary Duff, who is probably the only Disney star to not go to jail: “Waiting for you is like waiting for rain in this drought--hopeless and disappointing.” So instead of constantly refreshing my Gmail, I will continue to shoot out emails to every company in a 20-mile radius of Washington, D.C.
So, yes, being a third-year is stressful, especially when internship season rolls around. But I will remain steadfast in my pursuit of achieving marketability — I have to believe that will be enough to land me glorious summer plans.
And If you have any recommendations, please email me. Seriously. I’m desperate.
Leah’s column runs biweekly Thursdays. She can be reached at l.retta@cavalierdaily.com.
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