The College Experience

The College Experience – Trend-Setter or Non-Sequitur?
by George A. Miu

Modern society dictates that aspiring young professionals attend college and earn a degree in order to maximize their prospects and the likelihood of succeeding in an increasingly complex and moderately disoriented world. After nearly four years of reasonably rigorous schooling, and mere months before my completion of a BA in Philosophy and a BS in Mathematics, I have cautiously entered the job market in search of a career-starting position at one company or another. My discoveries, and the inferences I can draw from them, are listed below:

1. On College Majors
The precise nature of the college major is not overly important, so long as it can reasonably be assumed that it prepares you adequately for the position. For instance, my math degree is good for a great number of economics related jobs, most of which require on-the-job training, and merely ask candidates to be comfortable in data-intensive environments. Now – don’t expect to get a job in the financial world with a Criminal Justice degree. It doesn’t quite work out that way. But, if you can show that your background is suitable for the tasks that will be required of you, your foot is already in the door (and a good resume will help you achieve this).

2. On Grade Point Averages
It seems to me that GPA calculations and re-calculations occur on a near-daily basis for some of us more concerned college students. However, it has occurred to me that the difference between, say, a 3.4 and a 3.7 is nowhere near as significant as previous job experience and/or honors and distinctions attained in the past. Indeed, the greater vast majority of job postings have no specified requirement, and a 3.3 or above is generally considered to be a plus in your application, based on my understanding of things.

3. On Work Experience
Obviously, most of us are going in looking for our first true full-time job. So this section of our resumes will not be very substantial. Nevertheless, I encourage all of the younger college students to try their hand at office jobs and positions that grant you a fair degree of independence. This bodes well for prospective employees who can demonstrate some sort of knowledge of the inner workings of an office and the deadlines and pressures associated with it.

4. On Communication Skills
Virtually every employer out there wants its workers to be eloquent, well-spoken and (especially) well-written. There is nothing more important that knowing how to get your point across in simple-but-classy terminology. So try emulating your professors in how you talk (assuming, of course, that your professors are good speakers and/or writers). It may seem pompous and needless at first, but with a bit of refining, it will put you in a prime position to impress when it comes to cover letters and interviews.

5. On Job Fairs & Career Services
Every college has some sort of office whose sole purpose it is to facilitate interactions between graduating students and employers. Use these to your advantage – go and talk to companies and their representatives and always have your resume handy. The worst that can possibly happen is that you won’t get a call back; but the learning experience is priceless. Remember – most of us have no idea as to what’s out there and what’s waiting for us beyond graduation. The more you acquaint yourself with these unknowns, the better your chances are at picking a good job for yourself that you will enjoy and (hopefully) flourish in for many years to come!

Reality

Reality: A Personal Case Study
by Neal R. Karski

Thus, I shall what I’ve started with the first personal case study of destiny. In this piece, Part 2, I will provide you, keen observers, with my analysis of the concept of reality. Note that this post reflects the thoughts of an individual, that is myself, and does not represent any absolute truths or proven facts [just to clear things up].

Every day, we take the steps we haven’t pursued before. We look carefully in the mirror at the inherent face, the clothes we wear and we attempt to describe the feelings and emotions we experience. And every day, they are different. We hear the chirping birds, glance at the blooming plants and talk to our close ones. But is everything that we do real? Or does your imagination play a part in our perception: creating what we see, hear, feel. Does the adjective of “real” even relate to reality?

I often question reality; its existence, laws, complexity. One way, I can say that I, myself, have the power to create what’s real through the works of my mind. But the other way, every person that manages to think and take footsteps on this planet has a right to dispute my statement and say that he or she is the one that creates reality. So therefore, is reality split? Is it an individual concept that belongs to each and every human being? Or is reality a universal notion that transcends beyond our understanding? At times, it seems to me that we’re trapped in a world, where everything appears apparent, but the underlying laws works in mysterious ways to alter this equilibrium and our perception of the continuing reality. That’s when we lose touch. We ask ourselves – Is this real?

Questions. Questions. Questions. I pardon each and every one of you, as this post is filled with them, yet like many of you I seek the answers [whether through writing or other means]. I’m a curious learner of the unexplainable, the sought after, the forbidden.

Now, we must ask ourselves… if it’s not real, then is it unreal, surreal or fake? What is the opposite of reality? And does it exist? I am not capable of fully comprehending the realm beyond reality where world is like a dream, or my imagination. Wait! Dreams, imagination and engendered thoughts. It may seem to us that those elements are the elements beyond reality, thus we would label anti-reality as something that is shared commonly by human beings, where more than one person can experience the event or interaction and take away from it. So does reality urge experience? And the surreal is purely an individual concept? I guess we’ll never know, eh?

God Bless.

Depression, Part I

A Word on Depression: The Rocky Road to Closure
by George A. Miu

Depression. It emerges from the depths of the mind, latching on to our memories and eventually infesting our present with an outlook that is pessimistic and skewed, never truly permitting us to operate with the efficiency we had always taken for granted.

As depression is becoming more and more prevalent, we have a whole host of doctors, professors and distinguished misters who tell us that the problem evolves from chemical imbalances in the brain. Being a veteran of the mental war that is depression, I find that I disagree with this assessment. If depression was, indeed, a chemical anomaly with no external causes, its rates would never rise or dip beyond a negligible point – namely, the percentage of brains in which the aforementioned anomaly is likely.

My experiences indicate otherwise, at least insofar as I am able to decipher them. Depression is first and foremost a disorder that must be associated with sentiment, as opposed to concrete physiological function. The order runs thus:

One. Genesis: We are traumatized.

Two. Dormancy: We live with the trauma that has not been fully processed.

Three. Trigger: We undergo an experience in which we realize that we are affected deeply by the initial trauma.

Four. Depression: We spiral downwards because we automatically identify all situations in which the previous trauma, as well as the “Trigger”, obstruct us from operating.

Okay. So I’m no psychologist. I know next to nothing about the intricacies of the brain. But I know well enough that a suspended brain can never be in a state of depression, no matter what its chemical composition tells us about it. For the disorder to occur, sentiment is requisite. Yes – there are chemical imbalances that are observed in individuals suffering from depression; these are natural side-effects of sentiment, not primary causes. I did not become depressed because my brain went gaga, but rather because I met my “Trigger”. Only then did my mind go haywire.

I urge all readers who are depressed: Do not look at your condition as a medical calculation to be solved. Look at it as a human calculation that needs to be resolved. Don’t regard yourself as a finite-combination puzzle. Instead, seek out closure so that you can learn to live with your perception of the past, your understanding of the present and your vision for the future. Then, decide on a reasonable way to treat it – more on this in Part II, I promise.

On a closing note, I would like to reason as to why I believe that counseling is necessary for depression treatment, while medication is not. Consider this analogy: sufficient pain medication for a ruptured appendix will cure all symptomatic elements therein. It will make even the most agonized human being believe they will be okay. But it does not eliminate the origin of the potentially-lethal condition. Similarly, medication may cure the chemical imbalance and shift the overall outlook towards the more positive end of the spectrum. Yet, it fails to address the reason it happened in the first-place: an intrinsic dissatisfaction. Of course, medication may be recommended, or even necessary, given the precise nature and gravity of depression. Nevertheless, careful introspection is the only way that a natural catharsis can come into existence.

Part II is on its way tomorrow.