graduate – The Orbital

7Dec

By Rebecca OwenNo Comments

Opinion

The Value of Internships

Internships are a great way for university students to gain practical experience and skills to prepare them for graduation, and are key to building a network of contacts and industry knowledge in a field that perhaps their degree doesn’t offer them. That being said, are all these internships worth their salt? We’ve all seen the internship and graduate job descriptions brandished under the alluring title ‘opportunity’ that incorporate the key phrases “entry level”, “must have X number of years experience” and “unpaid”. It would seem the reward is heavily disproportionate to the skills the intern would be providing the company. It’s a Catch 22 scenario — you’re applying for something to give you the experience, but are being denied the opportunity because of your lack of experience. No...

5 Things to do Before you Graduate

Whether you’re a fresh-faced first year or a weary postgraduate, graduation seems a long way off. However, soon enough, the end of your university career comes around and you wonder where it’s all gone. Here are a few things you MUST do before you disappear into adult life: 1. Walk around the whole of Virginia Water Lake. Within half an hour of campus is Virginia Water Lake, part of Windsor Great Park. Living so close to a great spot of natural beauty, it would be awful to miss out on seeing the whole of the lake - it is 4.5 miles to do the circuit and there’s also a coffee shop where you can reward yourself with a well-earned snack. 2. Try out a society and a sports club. Royal Holloway has over 100 sports and societies, some of which are quite unique. You might hate sports but you ...

“The real value of a real education…nothing to do with grades or degrees”: Thoughts From a Graduating Student

Warning: deep and meaningful content. I finished my degree three weeks ago with an awful sense of failure and underachievement; I was too exhausted to put 100% into my work and I knew it wasn’t up to scratch; I was full of regrets for not doing that internship or this extra-curricular activity: I felt like I had wasted my time. So I went back to the man who was the source of my dissertation: David Foster Wallace, my hero (for anyone who googles him, please don’t judge me). In his address to graduates, he says: “The real value of a real education, which has nothing to do with grades or degrees and everything to do with simple awareness…You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t.” This might seem heavy, but what Wallace says is actually kinda comforting. I realised ...