Vacations are meant for fun, most will agree with this sentiment. They’re a time to let your hair down, to relax, and to indulge in some well-earned rest. However, as you transition from school to college, is it a wise idea to work in the couple of months you get between the change?
Well, it’s a purely subjective matter, with no right or wrong answer, but we’ll try to shed some light on both sides of the coin in the hopes that it can help you make the right decisions for yourself, be it a yay or a nay.
Working after school – or rather, interning – in the field of your choice could give you an insider’s perspective of it. It could help you learn the pros and cons of the field, and decide on whether it is for you, whether it is your passion, or whether it is just a passing fancy. You could end up making useful contacts and end up improving the size of your network and even make a positive impression on your peers and superiors, all of which could hold you in good stead and help you in the long run.
On the flipside, the vacation after your school years is a time for bonding with family. As you move from being a teenager to an adolescent, you become independent and slowly move away from family as you start making your own life choices, decisions which may not always be the same as the ones of your family. So, these months can be important for you, to make memories which will last a lifetime. A vacation with them, or even spending more time with them can be important as you reconnect and start to understand each other better, especially if you’ve been living away from them for school. As you grow up, there will be further opportunities to work, to intern, to learn, when you will have a better understanding of your career choices and your field. That is when an internship or an apprenticeship would make more sense. After all, it would be better to spend those vacation months researching on prospective fields to study in, instead of spending that time working.
You first need to decide on which course, which field and which college you want to go in, rather than working on a whim and a fancy. Is it the cool logic of science you like? Is it numbers and decisions you prefer to play with? Or is it the magic of the arts that calls to you? Study, research, and then make a call. This is more important than working at this age. That will come later, and once it comes, you may miss the days of leisure you had in the past. So, try your best to find out what is your passion and try to turn it into your avenue of higher education, and then, your career.
In the end, the call is yours.
