So the school year is about to be over, you’re a college student and are at a loss for what to do this summer. I’ve been there—big time—and so have a lot of my friends. It can be overwhelming to be feeling this new kind of stress that a lot of college students find themselves feeling. Post freshman year, a lot of students feel pressure to do something wildly meaningful with their summers to gain valuable work experience. Both of these reasons to find worthwhile work are valid and certainly important. However, the panic that has been circling around my head for almost four months has been over the top at points. Everyone in college feels the looming presence of a world made for adults, and we are students learning how to be those very adults who thrive in the professional world. It can be daunting.

However, with the right mindset and perseverance, you can land a job or an internship that will suit you best. At Conn, we have an incredibly supportive and helpful career office. Each student is assigned a career advisor who is vastly knowledgeable and approachable about all things career-wise, helping you find meaningful experiences that will propel you forward into “real” life. I recently found out that I was offered an intern position at Woman’s Day magazine for this coming summer and I could not have obtained this amazing opportunity without the help of the career office, as well as help from my specific advisor. I received help on my cover letter and resumé, and was navigated through the foreign (to me) professional world.

While we know how to handle schoolwork when we arrive at college, students usually don't know how best to find an internship or a job. As a sophomore, I am still very unsure of how the professional world actually works. The important thing to remember is that everyone around you in college is also dealing with the same struggles and the uncertainty of how to best handle their future careers. Luckily, there are many tools and resources provided to us that can bring some ease to the process.