School advice

Stay only as long as necessary. Try to find internships related to career path(s) that you are interested in taking. Once you've gotten some interning experience and some contacts graduate asap because as time goes on, college degrees themselves decline in value in the eyes of employers. It's not necessarily a rush, definitely stop to smell the roses, but try to make your college time count for something.

asking for school advice on a poker site is questionable approach imo =o

On November 16 2011 17:56 NighTLesS15 wrote: Should i spend the extra semester declare a minor in what i was planning on doing, or does having a minor attached to the degree not really matter? a

Employers don't really look at minors. They tend to focus on what your degree is in and occasionally take your final GPA average into consideration.

I agree with the previous statement that you should do some type of internship before graduating if you don't already have career experience related to your degree. An old roommate of mine completed a paid summer internship working in HR and the same company hired her after she graduated. Not completing some type of internship was my mistake. My Bachelors degree is in Political Science and after graduating I learned that everyone (law firms, etc) required prior experience. Job interviews and securing a job with solely a degree was much easier before the economy took a dive.

I really hope you picked a degree that can land you a job after you graduate. The more specialized/specific the degree the better vs something general like business, psychology, etc.

Most schools have career departments/job sections that advertise internship opportunities. I highly recommend you take advantage! GL

yeah my problem with not doing internships yet is i just started at a 4 year, and wasn't doing any in junior college cause i worked off and on to pay for school, but definitely trying to find one for this summer. But my school also offers internship set-ups as a course which i will be doing next fall so hopefully i'll have 2 ones to draw from, although not that many should at least look better than nothing.

On November 16 2011 20:31 bigredhoss wrote: asking for school advice on a poker site is questionable approach imo =o

hence why i asked specifically for college graduates or people in a position that are hiring people who know whats being looked for

depends what your BA is in but i would doubt it matters. i would just get done as fast as possible unless you have a reason for getting the minor. there's basically 2 things you should worry about at this point. if 3.5+ gpa is w/ in your grasp work your ass off to achieve it. the utility of 3.5+ is pretty major and there isn't really too much difference between 3.5 and 3.7 until you start getting into 3.9+ range magna cum laude all that other bullshit. if you are below 3.0 do your best to get above there. there is not really much difference between 3.0 and 3.4.

apart from that i would try to be as social as possible. a resume could be like 1 in 100 to get an interview. a good network/contact/connection is basically 100/100 to get an interview. being social is also good practice for presenting yourself well and being sociable and enthusiastic in an interview. unless you have a standout resume, a good contact and nailing the interview is 99.9999% of the battle. even a standout resume is drawing dead if they don't nail the interview. lastly, it's your last semesters and there will be a ton of opportunities to have a lot of fun.

so basically, my advice would be do what you gotta do to hit 3.0 or 3.5+ and spend the rest of the time socializing, meeting new people and having a blast. if 3.0 is out of reach do what you gotta do to graduate and you can probably be even more aggressive with going out (or getting a job/jobs now).

also, i'd start looking into jobs now no matter what. depending on your resume DO NOT feel entitled to anything b/c you have a degree. a BA basically means unemployed these days. it's a nice gold star to prove you aren't a complete fuck up but people that have been working for 4 years have the same gold star PLUS experience. if you have some electives to fill it would probably be worth it to take some sort of excel or c++ or python course or something you would be interested in doing.

also, businessforpokerplayers by LP's own CEO- Hero Poker Dave is a good source. the sooner you start getting familiar with what you might want to be doing or at least what industries you are interested in the better.

cliff notes:

-BAs basically have no value
-cut your losses and graduate as soon as possible unless a minor is somehow a good investment
-machine mode and acquire as much valuable and marketable knowledge and skills over the next 2 semesters.
-social skills and networks are worth at least a letter grade and probably more.
-don't fuck around. if you machine mode becoming the best gears of war 3 player in the state or hbo series expert instead of acquiring valuable and marketable knowledge and skills it's basically gonna severely fuck up your potential quality of life for the foreseeable future. it will be much harder to change at that point and will take even more aggressive machine moding that you could just do now. yeah that might be a bit daunting or cause some anxiety but it should also be some serious motivation to get your ass in gear.

On November 16 2011 21:07 NighTLesS15 wrote: hence why i asked specifically for college graduates or people in a position that are hiring people who know whats being looked for

sorry, was making a joke. good luck with your quest!

RikD's post was really good, he said what I would have. Don't worry about getting a minor, just get out of school. Being educated and suitable for hire are two different things, so start trying to get some internships or other forms of experience. Get out and start meeting people in your desired field.

It's tough out there right now but I think if you start planning now you can be in a good position when you graduate. Good luck

Hey in my fourth year of university in Canada in a Bachelors of Commerce. I applied for 11 management consulting jobs and received 3 offers. I actually just signed last Monday to start in September. If you want I can help you with getting a job by helping you write cover letters and resumes. Depending on where you live and the prestige of your degree you'll be qualified for different jobs.

If you're wondering why I want to help - It's because I'm fucking loving life right now and might as well spread some love while I'm riding high.

I'm also really bad at poker - so if any of LP wants help with anything - teach me a little bit about poker and I can probably help you with a reasonable request.

Highly dependent on what your BA is for and what you want to do with it. Do you want to work in finance? Go on to grad school? If so, a professional one (law, medicine, etc.) or a more academic one?

IMO the vast majorities of BA's are quite useless. Well, perhaps they're useful in adding knowledge and value to your life, but in terms of helping you acquire a well-paying, professional or corporate job, random BA's in Psych or English aren't really going to cut it. Minors are even more useless. If you're going to stay for another year or two, you might want to look into double majoring. Other than that, I echo what everyone else has said on trying to grab an internship.

Ultimately, it depends on what your BA actually is in.

Minor's don't show up on your degree (at least on mine and everyone I know from Oregon State), it's just something to mention. Value of minor would varie. If it's a minor in a language that you foresee being beneficial, then that's definitely worth it. If it's a minor in underwater basket weaving, I'd just graduate.

Yeah what is your BA in? It depends but if you have a BA thats useful a minor is almost completely useless. Employers will only care if they need that specific skill. They really wanna see work experience and passionate people.

On November 17 2011 12:03 thumbz555 wrote: Minor's don't show up on your degree (at least on mine and everyone I know from Oregon State), it's just something to mention. Value of minor would varie. If it's a minor in a language that you foresee being beneficial, then that's definitely worth it. If it's a minor in underwater basket weaving, I'd just graduate.

This. I was going to do a minor also, but in the end it doesn't show up anywhere and is pretty much useless unless you learn some sort of practical skills from it. Just graduate and move on to the next thing that will help you get to where you want to be.