Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

What I Wish I Knew Freshman Year…

This post was written by Peer Career Ambassador Jaclyn Gaines ’16.

Coming back to Babson after winter break as a second semester senior has evoked a lot of mixed feelings for me. While I am excited for what is ahead after graduation and beyond, I can’t help but feel a bit melancholy about leaving Babson behind. Looking back on my Babson experience, I realize there are many things I wish I knew freshman year from a career perspective:

  1. It is okay to have no idea where you are going.

While there are many students who come to Babson knowing exactly what they want and how they are going to get there, there are equally as many students (if not more, in my opinion) who are here to figure things out – And that is OKAY! In fact, it is best to approach your Babson experience with an open mind and try new things. As a freshman, I had no idea what I was interested in or what career I wanted to pursue. I gave myself the chance to explore a bunch of different functions and industries to find what I loved. And what I learned, just as upperclassmen before me had said, is that everything will fall into place.

  1. No experience is a bad experience.

You have four years ahead of you at Babson – Don’t feel like every move you make has to be a perfect fit into some master plan. Rather, use this time to explore. Take classes you never thought would interest you, join clubs you had no idea about, do internships in functions and industries you didn’t think you saw yourself in – And you never know where these experiences will take you. There’s no reason to fear opportunities like these because, worst case scenario, you’ll find out you didn’t like something and still gain experience from it. And that in and of itself is a very valuable lesson.

  1. Get out there and get started!

Since we have already covered that is it okay to not know where you are going and that there is no such thing as a bad experience, get out there and get started! You have nothing to lose. Start working on your resume, sign up for clubs in industries that you think you might be interested in, join that department in FME that you’ve been curious about, go to as many career related events as you can. The more you exposure yourself to, the easier it will be to find out what you are/are not interested in.

When you’re a senior about to graduate, you realize how short of a time four years is at Babson. So don’t waste another second, and in typically ET&A fashion, just start.