the Guppie Life

Now that I’m a full year out of college, I’ve had some time to think deeply about my college experience, and there are a lot of things I would have done differently.

I went to a small, private liberal arts university in the south. It’s well-ranked and was very expensive, but luckily I graduated with no debt thanks to my very supportive parents and a few small merit-based scholarships. (I also supported myself as much as possible by holding jobs on campus all four years.)

One of the reasons I chose my school was because they had a program which guaranteed me admittance to their law school if I maintained a certain GPA due to my standardized test scores. [The ACT was my best friend during the college admissions game. :) ]

Yes, for some strange reason, yours truly thought he wanted to go to law school. Ha. A year working for the law school admissions office cleared that right up. Who wants to be a headcase for three years and then enter a suicide- and depression-laden profession? Not this boy.

So, between my freshman and sophomore years I decided what would really make me happy would be becoming a veterinarian. So, I officially declared myself a biology major and eagerly signed up for 8:15am genetics. Luckily I had enough AP credits from high school so that I would be able to complete the biology major coursework even though I began as a sophomore.

Halfway through junior year (after having spent the summer as a veterinary assistant), I realized that although I do feel strongly about helping animals, it wasn’t something I was interested in as a career. [Factoid: Did you know veterinarians have a much higher-than-average suicide rate due to their high-stress levels and easy access to chemical euthanasia agents? More importantly, why was I attracted to high-stress, depressive professions in college?]

In May 2007 I graduated college without a firm plan for making it big with my B.S. in biology and my history minor.

Luckily, my experience as a website manager for one of my university’s schools’ websites was enough to get me a position in online ad operations (though that job didn’t last long).

These days I’m much happier in my current role as a semi-technical hire at a web development company. But it pains me that I could be much further along in my career had I done college differently. I certainly could be making more money, for instance, if I had a stronger technical background.

If I was granted a magical college do-over while retaining all the important Life Lessons I’ve learned, here’s what I think I would do:

• I would have picked a major that aligns with my interests and has the possibility of paying well. I did love the biology major (molecular bio and organic chemistry excepted), but entry-level jobs for a biology B.S. degree are competitive and pay poorly. The good jobs in biology all require an M.S. at the very least, and even most of those aren’t well compensated. I would have been better off with some combination of business and web technology, and probably just as happy since I am also interested in those subjects.
• I would have gone to a more prestigious school. Don’t get me wrong, my university was ranked well and has an excellent academic reputation. But I received an application from Princeton out of the blue during college application season, and I think a part of me will always wonder, What if…?
• Failing that, maybe I would have gone to a less prestigious school. With my AP credits I’d probably have been able to finish in 3 years at a less challenging school, saving my parents lots of money. Also I’d probably have a lot more free time to work on building my professional skill-set rather than poring over useless Calculus 2 problems.
• I would have gone to school in a large, liberal city, like D.C., San Francisco, or maybe Miami. Being gay in a small, southern city isn’t much fun. Partly, it’s a numbers game, because there are more gay people to meet in a large city than a small one. But it’s also about being in a place where people hate you less for being different—and let’s not forget that gay friendly cities tend to have better economies (pdf).
• I would have tried to find a corporate internship for the summer before senior year. When I graduated college, my resume only included a few campus jobs plus my summer with the veterinary hospital. Some first-hand corporate experience would have been good preparation for the business world because unfortunately, few entrepreneurs recognize the inherent character-building that comes with drawing blood from a Basset hound.
• I would have started applying for post-college jobs long before February of senior year. Even the few months’ head-start I gave myself was not enough time. I didn’t accept a job offer until August after graduation, which meant three insufferable months of living at home with my parents. I simply had no idea the job search process would take as long as it did. (To give you an idea how slow some of these companies move: An HR representative from Target.com called me in December to talk about a position I applied for in July. Wow.)
• If in my do-over I failed to get a job immediately after graduating, I would have moved to my desired city and started temping right away. Instead, I stupidly waited for months until I found a “good fit” which turned out not to be such a good fit after all. And though D.C. slash NoVA isn’t terrible, I let the city pick me rather than the other way around.
• I would have had more sex. Because… well, why not? Apparently it’s more important than making a lot of money.

One thing I won’t do is beat myself up for my respectable-but-not-4.0 GPA. Who wants to hire a kid with a perfect GPA anyway?

What about college do you wish you could redo?