Recent Questions
Question: How do you deal with the stress of graduating and having no idea what you want to pursue when you’re done with school?
Answer: To use a running metaphor, the finish line is in
sight, so you have to keep your head down and stay focused to run the final
steps to reach the finish line. These final weeks, it’s more important to finish
the work at hand; after graduation, then you can begin to look forward to your
next “race.” On campus, Te Reid is Director of Career Services (treid@aurora.edu).
She can help you with your resume and job search, because chances are you are
going to be looking for a job.
If you wanted to attend graduate school in the fall, you would have had to apply
already. You could apply for grad school down the road sometime, if that’s what
you want to do. In the meantime, though, those school loans will be coming due
and you probably would like to get out to live on your own. You need to find a
job.
Let everyone in your circle of friends and acquaintances know you’re looking.
That’s often a place where opportunities can arise. Professional associations in
many fields will post job openings on their websites. If you don’t know the
URLs, Google the name of a profession. Check the newspapers and job websites.
It takes time and effort but the work will eventually pay off and you’ll
actually create a life!
If you don’t know what kind of jobs to look for here are a couple of websites to
explore: Monster.com sponsors a Major to Career Converter at
http://6steps.monster.com/step1/careerconverter and you can search for job
openings within a 50-mile radius of your zip code or in a field of interest at
http://www.ajb.org
But first, don’t forget to celebrate your graduation May 6 or 7. You are in a
small minority who actually earn that college diploma. You’ve worked hard! Pat
yourself on the back and enjoy! Congratulations!
Q: How do you make
more free time when you work and go to school?
A:
Some free time, or “leisure
time,” is important for your ability to handle stress. None of us can keep
pushing and hurrying all the time and not have it take a toll on our health.
The best way to find free time in your schedule is to chart out on a calendar
your work and school schedules (including study time and travel time). When you
see where your time is taken up, then you can begin to discover an hour or two
here and there in which you can just hang out, stress-free!
Q: Is there only
one type of depression?
A:
No. There are several
classifications of depression in the diagnostic manual. The basic difference in
depression types is whether the cause is chronic or situational. A chronic
condition is a depression that’s always an underlying feature of someone’s
personality and outlook. Situational is when depression happens due to a
specific “trigger” – the death of a loved one, for example.
If you want to learn more, couple of good websites are:
http://www.med.umich.edu/depression/understanding_index2.htm and
http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/21.cfm
Q: What are some
symptoms of bipolar disorder?
A:
The symptoms are hard to
describe in a brief answer. Your best bet is to read a good description at the
National Mental Health Association website:
http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/21.cfm
If you want to take a brief, anonymous screening test for bipolar disorder or
for depression, go to:
http://www.aurora.edu/counseling/screening.htm