Ahmed: Not just employers that need to like your resumé

In elementary school, when June finally rolled around, there was a palpable frenzy in the… In elementary school, when June finally rolled around, there was a palpable frenzy in the air. Students would spend more time outside, skip out on homework more often and look out the window in torment as class continued.

Days were more about soaking in every second of sunlight than finishing work, or studying for a quiz.

As college students, I don’t think that sentiment has changed. In April, we are in a frenzy, painfully deciding between the much-needed study time and the urge to lay down the towel on the Soldiers and Sailors lawn and simply chill.

But now that we’re in the middle of our little heaven, as much as I want to be at home and enjoy the beach, I don’t think I could.

True, most of my summers have been spent that way, but college seems to hold a different expectation. All around me I hear my friends talking about summer classes, studying abroad, doing an internship or a research program — basically something commonly defined as productive.

Call it peer pressure, but I wouldn’t be content with myself if I were relaxing on the beach.

With the academic-centered attitude that college brings, my reaction is to be expected. Our peers could be our competition for that future job or grad school acceptance letter.

I’m currently involved in research and spending time prepping for a graduate school exam. Of course, I’m also engaged in plenty of extracurricular activities, but that’s the fun part.

What made me commit myself is partly pressure. Though I admit, my activities will only help me.

However, the summer is the perfect time to reflect on where we are headed with these expectations and these activities. Do you drop everything and pursue what you like, or do you just continue to do what you think will help you later in life?

There’s a balance. It reminds me of some advice my high school English teacher shared: “There is a certain time to be a rebel, and your education years are not it.”

That is not to say we must stifle what we really want to do. It’s best to come to an agreement and make your activities something you enjoy, while they still benefit you in the way you hope and, of course, boost the resumé.

Go ahead and spend your summer in a competitive internship, but pursue your other hobbies, too, as they might eventually enhance that resumé.

If you’re applying to grad school, you’ve probably made sure you’re involved in a host of extracurriculars.

Whether you liked your activities or not, hopefully they will appeal to whoever’s seated at the school’s admissions office scanning through your immaculate resumé.

But during an interview, when you have the chance to talk about an activity with more passion and enthusiasm, it sticks out. When you make sure your heart is in your pursuits, it helps you during and after the commitment.

Though it’s tempting to look for resumé bites that will help you stand out, you’re wasting your time if you don’t look for activities that interest you and pertain to your undergraduate study.

Say you are an engineering major, and you have the opportunity to do an internship with a manufacturing company. It sounds substantive, and probably is, but whether you will enjoy it is still a question.

If instead you spent the summer with a professor at Pitt and designed your own manufacturing contraption, you will surely have a more intimate relationship with your work. The only person who could explain your work to the last detail is you.

If it isn’t graduate school you’re looking forward to after college, the same ideals apply. Be productive in something in which you have genuine interest. Seek out that medium.

When I’m leaving the laboratory or cracking open that prep book, I do envy those enjoying the summer weather. But I also enjoy my time because the research I pursued was of my interest, and I know both will help me in my pursuits.

E-mail Abdul at aba24@pitt.edu.