Students blog

This past summer I graduated with my Masters’ degree in Accounting from St. John’s University. This is incredible for me to even fathom! I worked so hard for this! The whole time I was studying for my degree, I was also working. It was not easy to balance it all—believe me!  Despite all this, I did it and so can you! No matter what your goals are, I would like to share with you my experiences and encourage you to achieve your own goals – a positive personality is sometimes all it takes!

Working while in college. This was a great experience, but my job was not in the area which I was studying. If I could change anything, it would be to find a job or internship more in line with my major. I love my job and place of work; however, I wanted to put everything I have learned into practice.

Starting several months before graduation, I started applying to jobs within accounting. From what I have learned from the past and my fellow Pearson Insiders, it is always a good idea to plan ahead.

I am a firm believer in the old adage that everything works out for the best. This is a great attitude to have during job searches as you may face a lot of rejections. It is safe to say I must have applied to several dozen jobs and did not hear back from many of them, but I never lost my resolve throughout all this. My outlook was always positive.

This positive outlook worked in my favor. My upbeat personality helped me hit it off with one of the most incredible recruiters out there. Even though I was not hired by the first place she found for me, she talked me up to another company that she thought would be a better fit. I am looking forward to what the future brings!

When I was working during college, I could have better suited my future career search by working a job that was related to accounting. This is one tip I want to encourage you to do, as having an internship or related experience would have helped my job search. I encourage you to not lose hope. Always be positive and things will work out.

Earlier this year, I made it my goal to be completely “off the grid” for Earth Day. Like most millennials, I am pretty addicted to my phone and other devices. I knew that this was not going to be easy. Earth Day was also on a Sunday, so it certainly was not easy to give up my phone during the weekend when that is basically the only day I have to spend with my friends. But, as luck would have it, a very close friend of mine is very (and I mean very) environmentally-conscious individual. I was saved from having to spend a very lonely weekend by myself!

A learning experience

When April 22nd rolled around, I was thinking I would be bored before noon, but the day ended up being AMAZING! This environmentally-friendly friend of mine knows a lot about preserving the planet. He taught me where to find the best recyclable products for decent prices and even taught me a bit on how to compost. For those of you who are not aware, this is the process of recycling organic materials which produces a soil conditioner. It was a messy process, but definitely a learning experience!

No distractions

After all the learning about the environment, I needed a bit of learning for my classes as well. Finals were creeping upon me and the absence of technology really helped me put things into focus. I felt so fulfilled after making a commitment to help preserve the planet that I did not even think about how many emails or texts I may have gotten or what was the latest statuses of my friends on Facebook.

I was completely in the zone with my studies. I was able to knock out three complete hours of the best studying I have ever done in my life! In contrast to some previous study sessions, I was able to retain much more than I have in the past.

This is all thanks to Earth Day shifting my perspective to the more important things in life. You don’t need to wait for Earth Day to make a change to help preserve the planet. There are many days earmarked throughout the year to bring attention to our need to increase sustainability. One coming up later this month is World Environmental Health Day. Let sustainability allow you to learn more about yourself and the individuals around you!

There is no denying it, I am pretty much the nerdiest nerd you will ever know. I love books. Really, I LOVE all of them. I love hardcover books. I love soft cover books. I now love electronic books, but I didn’t at first.  Contrary to many of my millennial counterparts, I didn’t jump on the “digital eBook craze” right away. In fact, for the longest time I actually preferred physical books over eBooks – until I came across a tool that saved my grade.

Physical books might sometimes be heavy or difficult to lug around, especially before a big exam, but I absolutely enjoy the feeling of having a tangible book in my hands! My hesitation towards trying eBooks included that physical books don’t need an internet connection or an additional access code to view them – which means I can view them anytime or anywhere.  

However, there are some significant disadvantages that may far outweigh the advantages of physical books. For example, physical textbooks get out of date. I have purchased the wrong edition of a textbook for an important class too many times to count!

There is a big advantage towards electronic books that I recently discovered –  Pearson eBooks usually include MyLabs. I cannot express how amazing MyLab is! Whenever available, I take full advantage of all the great things MyLab has to offer. Even when my class does not use a Pearson textbook, I often buy access to a similar book related to the same subject that offers MyLab. I like to utilize the built in study materials such as Dynamic Study models that adjust my studying towards subjects that need the most attention!

MyLab offers index cards that are amazingly accurate and provide me the focus I need to perform well on my homework assignments and exams. There is also a proliferation of practice quizzes and practice homework assignments that are spot-on to my needs. What is perhaps my favorite feature would have to be how amazing MyLab is at gauging where my trouble areas lie and providing me with more questions in those areas to help me understand them better through more repetition. This is in contrast to other products that simply ask the same questions over and over again hoping that something will click. Thanks to MyLab, I was able to pass all my classes with flying colors.

Despite my hesitation towards jumping onto the eBook bandwagon, I must admit now that my nerdy self is an eBook fanatic because of the additional features. You cannot get Dynamic flashcards or practice quizzes that adapt to your needs in a printed hardcopy version of a textbook. So despite not having the “feel” of crisp pages beneath my fingertips, I am more than willing to trade it for tools that will better my grade and my understanding of the subject material.