Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

My most productive summer yet

This post was written by Peer Career Ambassador Jenny Hai ‘16

Have you been searching for an internship for the past 6 months? Chances getting more bleak by the day? Stressing that the most productive activity you will be doing this summer will be babysitting your neighbor’s dog? Considered taking summer courses, but didn’t follow through? Thought of volunteering work, but knew it wouldn’t fulfill your drive to progress as a professional? Don’t fret, because I was once there.

During my freshmen year, all my friends had internships or classes or just some plain amazing plan that I felt all Babson students had despite claiming they will also be bumming it this summer (ultimately coming back in the fall, running a seeded startup). And to be honest, I thought I was the only one in my class not prepared. So I told everyone I was going to start a blog and volunteer.To find my innerself, you know?

And I really did, although it wasn’t through the blogging and volunteering I claimed I did. It was actually through reading. Yes, I know what you are all thinking. “Reading? I have read enough books in Rhetoric A + B to satisfy my “craving” for the decade”. The honest truth is, the books that we read at Babson stimulate our critical thinking skills, but have little tangent impact in our lives. However, the books I picked up that summer had a larger impact and was more beneficial to my professional career than any of the four internships I have had at Babson. Here’s the short list and the lessons I still carry in my pocket today:

  1. Rich Dad Poor Dad
    “We all have tremendous potential, and we all are blessed with gifts. Yet, the one thing that holds all of us back is some degree of self-doubt. It is not so much the lack of technical information that holds us back, but more the lack of self-confidence.”
    – Robert T. Kiyosaki
  2. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
    “But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.”
    – Stephen R. Covey
  3. How to Make Friends and Influence People
    “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.”
    – Dale Carnegie
  4. Think and Grow Rich
    “The starting point of all achievement is DESIRE. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.”
    – Napoleon Hill
  5. Contagious: Why Things Catch On
    “Virality isn’t born, it’s made.”
    – Jonah Berger

Good luck with your summer reading! And remember CCD is open in the summer and is available through online appointments. Come chat about your career and inspirations.