OCR has got to be, like, the biggest joke at Penn.
Last week, I watched over half of my friends put more work into cover letters and info sessions than I’ve ever seen them put into a class at Penn. This week, I watched those same people get nothing. No first round interviews. No job offers. Some of the smartest people I know with near perfect GPAs couldn’t even get a foot in the door.
As Penn students, we are so accustomed to being the best. Being the best was so easy for so long but now, all of a sudden, it’s not. As I get closer to the end of of my time at Penn, I’ve had to come to the not–so–fun realization that, when I leave, I probably won’t be hired at the best job or get into the best grad school—that my days of being the best are almost over.
The thought of being ordinary is fucking scary (which is ironic, because all I wanted as a kid was brown hair and brown eyes and braces so I could look like everyone else). But I think what we have to remember is that it’s not the prestige of your job or your law degree that will make you happy or make you stand out, but rather what you do with those things and who you do them with. We are only 20–some years old and your summer internship after your junior year is not the rest of your life. You have no idea what will happen in the next few years.
Take this very optimistic advice from one of the biggest pessimists at this school.
xx,
Emily
