Notes

By Ian Sample

Editor in Chief

K, this week I am on a mission and I will share that mission with you. This all focuses around the notion that there is life after college. As many graduates can attest to, there is something out there in that great void my mom always called the "Real World." So this has been my search.

The other day I was focussed on graduate schools and getting a higher degree, today on the other hand I was looking for the ever elusive perfect job. To find a graduate school I asked around. 'What schools are good at Artificial Intelligence?' My professor gave me a partial list. This was unsatisfactory. I am truly interested in heading back to the West Coast, where my roots are. So I posted on the internet in a neural network news group asking the same question. I got a couple of replies. I was so excited. Then I got the US News graduate school report. Although it was pitifully short on the AI end of things it did list the best Computer Science schools. So I went through my hosts of lists and selected all the west coast schools. The next step was to visit the career counseling office and get addresses and phone numbers and request applications.

So of course I got the applications, but then what. As soon as you look at those things a flood of feelings come rushing to you. The Family isn't going to pay for this. Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? This school looks very competitive, can I get in? Should I go straight into Graduate school? Is there something out there that I am missing?

As one would expect with the sense of doubt in the air I went back to our career counseling office and sought out some more assistance. This time I was looking for something other than school. I was after a job. The constraint I put on the job market was that it had to be on the west coast. Trinity is a small place and so their west coast resources leave a little to be desired. So I went and ordered "The Seattle Job Bank 1997." Trinity had the 1993 edition. We can't have that now especially since Seattle has grown so much in the past few years. I also got the "San Francisco Bay Area Job Book." So I flipped to the high tech section. There was a plethora of options so many in fact I almost gave up the job notion.

So what should I do? Well, this past weekend I took the GRE. That is the SAT for college graduates. So now I can hinge my future education on that $80 test. Then I will write up my cover letters and resume. This should get me ready for the real world. Oh yeah, can't forget about that Peace Corps application. You know how many third world countries need computer science majors? Me neither, but maybe I run off to Namibia.