Undecided Student Turns Decided Graduate

      “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s one of the most commonly asked questions of a college student. For some it’s a straight forward question they’ve known the answer to for years. For those like me, it’s a daunting life-altering decision and you don’t even know where to begin.
      Being an undecided Penn State student for half of my college career, I never had the slightest clue what I wanted to do. Scavenging across the Penn State University campus for two years, I visited just about every academic advisor to every major offered. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but I did visit quite a few. Eventually decision day arrived, and I declared Public Relations and Business as my majors because I knew at least one thing, I loved to write.
      As my junior year progressed, I was given an offer my spring semester to participate in a Marketing Co-op for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products. During my Co-op I worked on the newly acquired KORRES® make-up brand and attained a variety of experiences. Working on an intensive website copy approval project, I met a variety of Johnson & Johnson professionals across the ranks and departments of the Consumer business. Working with lawyers, information technology personnel, and an R&D scientist was the ideal learning experience for an undecided student. I also had the opportunity to travel to different site locations, including Soho in New York City, where the KORRES® brand offices were located. I was quickly indoctrinated into the fast paced working world of New York City and the fine art of being a New Jersey commuter. Working as a marketing Co-op in the Beauty Global Business Unit exposed me to the variety of careers marketing offers including the ever growing field of shopper market research. Even though this was a life changing experience, there was still one pivotal element absent. I missed writing.
          Returning to Penn State, I had a better sense of what I wanted to do, but my vision for my future remained unclear. Shortly after resuming college life, I accepted a Communications internship at Johnson & Johnson Corporate. I’ve only been here for a few weeks, but I feel I instantly found an environment where I belong. Surrounded by creative minds and people who write as their profession, I quickly found a business function I could call “home.” During my experience in Corporate Communications thus far, I have become educated on the critical importance of media relations, the complexities of such new media such as Twitter, and I will soon be producing my very first corporate YouTube video.
     These internships have been invaluable because they helped me to finally learn what I want to do. Often times college students are unaware of the importance of internships and the value they can provide. Students should not simply look at internships as job trial runs, but as educational opportunities to help figure out what they want to do. To all interns and parents of prospective college interns, I recommend attaining as many unique work experiences as possible before graduation. If it weren’t for my experiences at Johnson & Johnson, I don’t feel I would be as confident or certain about my future as I am today. My days of being an undecided student are now but a mere memory. As I prepare to leave Penn State University, I can finally smile confidently and say I know what I want to be when I grow up, a public relations professional.