I’m getting older and I’ve realised that if you want to have any chance of getting into a university, you’re going to have to make a serious effort.
I went to college for the first time in my life and I knew that the world was not a place for people who just had good grades.
I wanted to be a professor of sociology.
After I graduated, I thought I’d made my mark and I was determined to stay at it.
So I started my internship.
It was a lot of hard work.
You’re going through a long process.
But I loved it.
And now, as I get older, I realise that there are other ways to get into a college.
When I was young, my favourite college was Harvard.
But now, I think there are a lot more choices.
At a time when the United States is still struggling with the recession, students are increasingly opting for jobs in sectors like technology, finance and health care.
My husband, who was raised in a small town in Pennsylvania, had a similar experience.
He attended a very good college, Harvard, and got an MBA.
But after graduation, he found himself unemployed.
That’s because, he says, the economy was so weak, and he didn’t want to live in a city where he could get a job.
For many young people, getting into the workforce isn’t as straightforward as it used to be.
They need to find a job with a good salary.
They also need to take on debt to pay for the cost of living.
Some students take out student loans to pay back the loans, and they sometimes have to work part-time to get by.
“It’s hard, but it’s possible,” says Rachel Kopplin, a student at the University of Washington.
“The way the economy has been going since the Great Recession, I feel like we are on the verge of a financial crisis.”
Kopplin was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and moved to Seattle when she was 12.
She attended Seattle’s historically black high school, and she graduated with a degree in English.
She also had a master’s degree in education.
She is now working on a master of arts degree in nursing.
She had hoped to become a registered nurse.
But when she applied for a nursing job in January, she was turned down.
“It was almost like being turned down for the job,” she says.
“And then I just had this feeling: You don’t want the job.
You don, you don’t have the credentials.”
So, she applied again.
She got a call.
“I got an email from the HR guy who told me they were going to make me wait a couple of weeks, so I was a little nervous.
But it was a really good job.
I got the job.”
And the job?
She didn’t get the job, but Koppelis says she is happy.
She’s happy because she had to make the effort to learn more about nursing.
“Now I understand what it is like to work in a nursing home and that is a very, very stressful job.
But if I had been in a hospital or an emergency room, I wouldn’t have been able to do it,” she explains.
The best part about her experience, Koppels says, was being a part of a community that was supportive.
She was able to see the world from a different point of view.
“When I got my degree, I wanted it to help other people understand that we have a lot to offer the world.
I felt that was the most important thing to me.”
At the end of the day, Kinkins says, her main goal is to help others, not just herself.
“We’re all just a piece of the puzzle,” she said.
Kinkins is one of the lucky ones.
There are millions of people who have experienced this same struggle, and it’s a huge opportunity for all of us.
Follow me on Twitter: @brian_kelly
