After the Exhale: Making the Most of Your Winter Break

By Sharon Fleshman

Winter break is drawing near.  Hold on… you’re almost there! In a couple of weeks, if not sooner, you’ll have handed in that last paper or exam and the busyness of the fall semester will be over.  And then you will have a moment to sit and simply breathe.  Inhale. Exhale.

Though I offer suggestions on how you can use some of your downtime for career planning, I hope that one of your priorities is to get some rest. Therefore, the following tips should be seen as less like a “checklist” to complete and more like a “menu”, where you choose what is most useful for you to accomplish during your time off.

Reflect: 
Think about your experiences at Penn so far. What have been some of your most energizing projects? Such projects may have taken place in the context of an internship, student club or a class.  Write a quick summary of each project, what you accomplished, and what you enjoyed. Are there any common elements that you see from these projects that point to skills, values, and strengths?   Reflecting on these matters is not only helpful for improving your resumes, cover letters and interviews, but will also allow you to identify careers that may suit you going forward. Career Services has self-assessment resources that can help facilitate this process.

Research:
Winter break is a great time to research careers, industries, employers and job/internship opportunities.  Make sure to peruse the Career Services website for online resources. You may decide to begin with resources on web pages which are more specific to your school or career interest. We also have general Career Exploration resources available. Online versions of newspapers, trade publications and other periodicals are other good sources for industry research. Websites for professional associations and chambers of commerce can also provide helpful career, industry and employer information.

Reach out:
Don’t forget that you already have quite a network which includes family, friends, alumni, current supervisors, and professors.  Don’t be hesitant about reaching out to your network for insight and consider how you can help others in your network as well.  Helpful resources for this include the Penn Alumni Career Network, LinkedIn and professional associations related to your field of interest.

In addition to networking and information interviewing, you can make connections with others while getting direct exposure to a career.  For instance, volunteering is an excellent way to accomplish this with hands-on involvement. Perhaps you can assist someone in a field of interest in a short-term project. Another means of exposure is shadowing, which allows you to accompany someone in a career of interest during the course of a work day.

Regroup:
As you assess your career goals and progress you’ve made so far, you may decide that you need to make some adjustments. To do this, consider an approach with “flexible focus” by determining what is most important concerning your career plans and where you can be more flexible. For instance, you may be committed to a particular industry but may decide to expand your geographical options. Invite family, friends, and mentors to strategize with you.

Once you have revisited your goals, it is time to document your plan of action with concrete, timely and measurable steps. Such a goal could sound something like, “I will conduct informational interviews with at least two people each month after break.”

Finally, the most important tip of all: RELAX!

Looking to work, intern, or volunteer abroad?

If you are interested in going abroad this summer or after graduation, don’t forget to check out the opportunities posted at International Opportunities Virtual Career Fair taking place on PennLink until December 21st.  This online career fair is for Penn students and alumni who are interested in international opportunities. Just like at a regular career fair, you will have the chance to make contact with employers, learn about their opportunities, submit resumes, and apply for positions.  Sixty-two (62) organizations and companies that provide job, internship, and volunteer opportunities have signed up to provide opportunities ranging from consulting to engineering, nonprofit to health care. For more information, visit to the event website: International Opportunities Virtual Career Fair.

As you research international options, you may be interested in consulting the following websites or your Career Services counselor for advice:

Here are the employers participating in the International Opportunities Virtual Fair:

Consulting

Pacific Epoch (China)
Roland Berger, Ltd. (Japan)
The Mind Co. (Argentina)

Engineering

eBaoTech Corporation (China)
IBM (China, India)
Johnson Matthey (China)
re:char (Kenya)
Siemens AG (Germany, Russia, Brazil, China, India, Middle East, U.S.)
Tally Solutions Pvt Ltd (India)

Financial Services

Citibank Korea Inc.
Morgan Stanley (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan) (Applications accepted until Dec 2)
Nomura (Hong Kong, Singapore)
SinoLatin Capital (China)

Other Business

Millicom International Cellular (Bolivia, Congo, Colombia, Ghana, Guatemala, Mauritius, Rwanda, Senegal, Chad)
Mountbatten Institute (United Kingdom)
Procter and Gamble Latin America (Panama)
RGE Pte Ltd (Hong Kong)
TeleTech (Philippines)
Weddings in Vieques (Puerto Rico)

Education

Associazione Culturale Linguistica Educational (Italy)
Concordia University Irvine (China)
English Opens Doors Program (Chile)
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Hellenic American Educational  Foundation (Greece)
Institute of International Education (Mexico)
International Teaching Advantage* (China)
LanguageCorps* (Worldwide)
LEAP Studio (Hong Kong)
NTK Academic Group (China)
Pagus:Africa (Ghana)
Sino Elite Education Group (China)
Summerbridge Hong Kong
Teach For China
Teach For India
Teach Taiwan
Teaching Assistant Program in France – Embassy of France
The International Schools of Choueifat – UAE, Oman, Qatar & Bahrain
The Kelly Yang Project (Hong Kong)

Healthcare

Child Family Health International* (Bolivia, Ecuador, India, Mexico, South Africa)
Unite For Sight (Ghana, Honduras, India)

Nonprofit

Indicorps (India)
InterExchange* (Australia)
International Conservation Center (Israel)
International Humanity Foundation (Indonesia, Kenya, Thailand)
International Partnership for Service-Learning™ and Leadership (Worldwide)
Manna Project International* (Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua)
Mexican Institute for Family and Population Research (IMIFAP) (Mexico)
The One World Foundation of New York, Inc.* (Brazil, Cambodia, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda)
ThinkImpact* (Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa)
Volunteers in Asia* (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam)

Multiple industries

Abroad China*
Career Israel*
CRCC Asia LLC* (China)
Cultural Embrace* (Worldwide)
EPA Internships in Europe* (Belgium,Germany,Spain,United Kingdom)
Experiential Learning Abroad Programs* (Worldwide)
Global Experiences* (United Kingdom)
My China Opportunity*
NorCap China Internships*
The Catalai China Programme*
The Center for Cross-Cultural Study* (Spain, Cuba, Argenina)
World Endeavors* (Worldwide)

* Indicates the organization charges a program fee.

Should I Apply to a New Medical School?

New!  Opening in a state near you!  A brand new medical school!  Responding to a mandate to educate and train more physicians, particularly to serve in regions in need of more health care providers, new medical schools are opening every year.  For a medical school applicant, a new school can be perplexing.  It’s like seeing something different on the menu at a favorite restaurant.  It may be interesting, but…is anyone else having it?  Will it be any good?  Will I be sorry?  Can you call the waiter over here?  I don’t know what this is.  I think it’s deer hoof, but my French is really old.

Here are some frequently asked questions applicants have as they look over the menu of medical schools (wouldn’t MOMS be so much better than MSAR?):

Will it be easier to get into a new medical school?

Probably not, unless the school is a very good fit for you.  Along with all the other schools, they have plenty of highly qualified applicants to interview and accept.  Also, they have a very strong motivation to see their first graduates succeed and fulfill their mission.

What is this “Preliminary Accreditation” business?

Allopathic medical schools go through five steps to “Full Accreditation,” which are outlined on the Liaison Committee on Medical Education’s (LCME) website.  Osteopathic schools are accredited through the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.  Allopathic schools may not advertise for applicants or accept applications until they have achieved Step 3, Preliminary Accreditation, which involves a site visit and approval from the LCME.  Full Accreditation is not awarded until the inaugural class is in its third or fourth year.  The application fee to become an “Applicant School” at Step 1 is $25,000.  Biggest.  Application.  Fee.  Ever.  And no fee waiver.

Is it possible that the school might not receive Full Accreditation and/or go under?

Thus far, no school has lost accreditation, although some are put on probation while they resolve particular issues.  To receive accreditation at any step, the school must demonstrate that it has the resources to succeed over time.  This does not mean, however, that attending a new school is risk free.  Should a school lose accreditation and/or fail, the AMA and AAMC have a process in place to try and place students in other medical schools to complete their degree, but placement is not guaranteed.

If you are considering an application to a new medical school, your pre-health advisors will not discourage you and you would not be the first Penn alum to join a “pioneer” medical school class.  So far, none has joined a Donner Party, but like any traveler you want to plan ahead and check your map before you forge ahead. Consider the mission of the school carefully and ask lots of questions should you be invited to interview.  Many of the new schools are an excellent fit for some applicants’ geographic and professional interests and they all have been granted the opportunity to enroll new students through hard work, creativity and enthusiasm.

 

International Internships – Pack your enthusiasm but leave your expectations at home: My experience with a Botswana human rights NGO

Julia Wolfe (C’12)

This past summer I spent two months in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana,  interning at a human rights non-profit through Penn’s International Internship Program (which provided funding and housing there). Before my departure I had idealistic visions of doing work that would positively affect people’s lives and be extremely helpful to the organization. However, I think that amidst my excitement I didn’t anticipate all the personal challenges that an internship can present, especially one in a developing country.

When I was there the organization was in dire need of funding and very short of staff. I was told this was a slow period for them, so I was not given as much work as I’d expected to have. What they did give me to do (mainly revising reports) was fascinating because I had no previous knowledge of Botswana or the southern African region, or of its politics, history and current human rights issues. The organization also hosted a week of events about the conflict in Zimbabwe, which required significant planning and then reporting about it afterward. Besides the light workload, other challenges I faced included the poor quality of communication among employees and the very basic technology and lack of resources in the office.

Although the internship did not live up to my lofty expectations, it was a fantastic learning experience. It gave me practice in taking my own initiative with projects and dealing with co-workers whose communication was sometimes quite frustrating–problems I know I’ll encounter again in my working life. I was told by one of the Penn-in-Botswana directors that my experience there was typical of office life in Botswana, so I’m glad I had an “authentic” experience. (And of course our weekend trips to go on safaris made my time there even better!) If you’re thinking of interning abroad in a place very different from the U.S., I would advise that it’s great to have high goals, but also be realistic about the challenges you will probably face. Don’t get discouraged if things don’t work out as you’d hoped, and know that whatever kind of experience you have will be worthwhile and teach you a lot–you will probably learn more than you’d ever anticipated!