Career Development 

DePaul has helped me grow and evolve in so many ways. Here, I feel I am constantly encouraged to try new things and take myself outside of my comfort zone. This, for many reasons has helped me on my journey of personal growth, as well as career development. When I first arrived on campus my Freshman year, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the communications realm, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do with my degree after college. I am now a rising junior, majoring in Public Relations and Advertising and have a much clearer idea of what it is I’d like to pursue. These are two things that DePaul has encouraged me to do, which have helped me expand my mind and develop and pursue my interests.

Take a wide variety of classes: This is dependent on your intended major, but you’ll likely have a number of open elective classes to take at DePaul. With these open electives, I would highly recommend taking as wide a variety of classes as you can. This, for one, will help you stay engaged in your classes and will likely prevent you from feeling bored or run-down. If you’re taking four business classes every quarter, you may begin to find yourself disengaged in your courses or even a bit resentful towards that subject, as your brain is being overloaded with lots of similar information. Incorporating variety when choosing your classes can help make them feel a bit more manageable and even more exciting! Additionally, taking a variety of different classes can really help you establish your interests! You may come to find you have a new interest or career path you’d like to pursue by branching out. Allow yourself to take classes that sound interesting to you, even if it is not a topic you’d typically gravitate to. You just never know where that can take you.

Secure an internship: In order to earn your bachelor’s degree from DePaul, students must fulfill a requirement called Experiential Learning. To fulfill this requirement, you must either study abroad or obtain an internship before your time at DePaul ends. If possible, I’d definitely recommend that student’s take advantage of both of these options! However, obtaining internship experience has been a key factor in helping me develop my career! Interning at a Public Relations firm has helped me solidify my interest in Public Relations and confirmed to me that this is what I want to be doing in the future. Through my internship, I was able to explore what the day-to-day looks like in my intended field and obtained hands-on experience. Interning also was a great way for me to identify my personal strengths and weaknesses. To be able to recognize these traits early on has been a gift, as I feel I have ample time to work on them before my time in undergrad is up. I would highly recommend that any student try to obtain at least one internship throughout their time at DePaul!

– Megan Harnaga