What I've learned in college and why it matters: An honest personal statement

Like many others, I have an inferiority complex. The biggest thing college has taught me is that no matter how good you are, you can, and must become better. You will never be good enough, because "good enough" is not enough. Standards are ever-rising, degrees mean increasingly less, and each new wave of college grads have either catapulted themselves into a battle royale for the entry-level job, or resigned to the fact that they will likely be students for several more years than they might have initially liked. I will be graduating with a B.A. in Print Journalism next month, and have recently contemplated what makes me the ideal candidate for any of these jobs that my peers are vying for. I have a résumé to outline my qualifications, but it hardly scratches the surface of my identity as a writer and reporter, not to mention a human being with a personality.

My skills are only minimally conveyed on paper. Isn't that the story? It's rather difficult to capture and express the depth of a person's creativity, dedication, and technical ability unless these attributes have been directly and concretely applied to some sort of verifiable achievement. Even then, each feat represented in a person's résumé is inevitably robbed of its true essence and life by way of format standardization. It is a precarious dance, the struggle to beef yourself up on paper while maintaining an honest sense of quasi-braggadocio. Work samples generally work to add a pulse to the heart that is a résumé. But many times in Journalism, editors have changed or rearranged the one sentence you were truly proud to have written, or adjusted your assonance so that it better fits their expectations. It's part of the journalist's career, this compromise of creativity. And so we are left to fend for ourselves in the treacherous job hunt, hoping our scrawlings can survive in a sea of seasoned writers, armed with whatever innovative tools we can scrounge up. Journalists are expected to be multimedia at minimum in this era, and rightfully so. There is no room for incompetence with writing, shooting video, editing audio, snapping photographs — you've got to know it all. And the problem is that so many of us are in the same situation: we "know it all." What, then, could ever set us apart from each other? Though I've been taught more than once about the value of neutrality in the journalism industry, one instance in which this does not apply is the marketing of one's self.

And so, here is my proclamation of self-worth and potential value to anyone who is even remotely interested.

 I am the first and only person in my immediate family to attain a college degree. I am instilled with a kind of wisdom that is now unconventional but representative of the American experience: hard work produces results. My parents earned every dollar they've ever owned through hard work and persistence, and a high school education. A huge chunk of the money they fought to attain went to providing me the opportunity to attend university, and I do not and cannot take that lightly. Every class I've taken at the University of Maryland has been a privilege to me and I strive to take full advantage of everything I've been taught.

I am the excited, eager, semi-perfectionist that attacks every challenge with unparalleled determination and enthusiasm. I am of a generation that is accustomed to the unpaid internship, which at many places is a plebeian equivalent to paid staff. I can do anything and I want to do everything, and I don't mind if pay is not through the roof. When I don't know, I learn, and my liberal arts education has certainly taught me how to learn. Life is about the enrichment of one's self; for some people, that is about family or religion or love. For me, it is largely about education, and not simply the retention of lifeless facts and data. I will never stop learning, because I know that reaching an education plateau is equivalent to career suicide in the Journalism industry. We must know what is happening, why, and what it means beyond mere face value. We must constantly look forward, and critically assess every element of news we encounter.

I am a work in progress, someone that is constantly clinging to my profession as an inextricable part of my identity. I am a writer and a reporter and it pervades every aspect of my life. For these reasons, I know I'd make the perfect addition to any organization — not just for my skills and expertise, but for my endless potential and desire to morph into someone even better.