My college experience was a lot like everyone else’s. I went to classes regularly, I made good grades, I tried to be as involved as I could. I probably looked like I had my life together, scribbling everything into my planner. I also changed my major twice. That’s right! In the span of a semester, I had THREE DIFFERENT MAJORS.
I was an art major in a very competitive program, and that scared me. Not because it was competitive, necessarily, but because they cut the class in half sophomore year and if you’re in the bottom half you can’t continue down that degree path until the next review, which is equally as competitive. I didn’t want to spend more than 4 years in college, and I didn’t want to have to switch majors halfway through. I was looking for a way out, and when I was 4 people shy of making it through the first review, I had found it. I switched my major to Interdisciplinary Art and Design, and I was happy like that. After all, I wanted to be an Art Director.
My R.A. had similar goals, and she was an IAD major with two minors, one in advertising and one in marketing. Why couldn’t I just do the same thing? Then, I talked to her about it. That was the end of that. She recommended just changing my major to advertising. She was doing well with her degree, but there were classes she couldn’t take because they were only for people who were majoring in Advertising.
Within the next week, my major was changed again and I was looking forward to Fall semester, when I would start my core for my new degree.
I think my art classes taught me a lot of valuable lessons, but I wouldn’t change the fact that I moved from CVAD to Mayborn for anything. My first advertising class was Principles of Ad and PR with Dr. B, and I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I am eternally grateful to my R.A. and suite-mate for pointing me in the right direction. She graduated at the end of that semester and started her own career in advertising, and I really don’t know where I would have ended up without her.
Fast forward to MY graduation! Graduations are generally considered a time to celebrate, and I think that’s fair. You finished four years at a College or University, and now it’s time to go out into the world to start a career! Personally, I thought that was terrifying. So much so, that I applied to the Disney College Program the semester I was graduating so I could have some more time to figure everything out. Uncertainty is something that causes a lot of anxiety for me, and moving to Florida and working in a restaurant in Walt Disney World seemed more reasonable than leaving college without having found a job. While I was there I was applying to jobs in Texas, looking for my next move. The thing about the Advertising field is that it isn’t super easy to get a foot in the door, it’s all about who you know.
Naturally about this time last year I ended up accepting an offer for position that meant I would be moving to somewhere (it could literally be anywhere) in the United States to work. MORE UNCERTAINTY! It was stressful, to say the least, but it was the job offer I had, and having a job gave me more security than moving back to Texas without one. After all, most of the agencies that interest me are in the DFW Metroplex, and I could hardly move there without having saved some money from a job that would ideally already be in that area. The best move for me to make was to accept a job that would pay for me to move somewhere, and then if I wanted to come back I could save and move back on my own later. After all, I wasn’t super interested in moving back to my hometown indefinitely to try to work at one of the two or three agencies there.
I moved back from Florida mid-May, and started my new job on May 28th. I was in a new place, surrounded by new people and I was going to have to learn how to do a new thing. It was mildly terrifying. At least until I started getting my computer set up, and connected the wireless mouse they gave me. The mouse didn’t have some generic name, like I thought it would. It had a person’s name attached to it. It was even a name that I knew. The mouse that I was using in my new job in a new place used to be the mouse that my previous R.A. used. I had no idea she worked for that company. Seeing her name there after all that time made me feel like I was right where I was supposed to be, again. Just like freshman year of college when she pointed me in the right direction with my major. And as if to make sure that I got the message, I even saw her later that week at a restaurant in the area.
My life feels a lot more stable now. I ended up being able to stay in Texas, which was a relief after six months of traveling and sleeping in hotels. I have my own apartment, a dog named Oliver (AKA Goob), a job that I like and a boyfriend. But looking back at it all, I really think that what makes it all seem so surreal is how I got here. For me, it wasn’t the destination that made everything special, it was the people I met and the places I went along the way.
The First Draft 
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