- lesscollegestress
- Aug 28, 2022
Hi! My name is Ashley Ryan and I am currently in Commercial Real Estate doing Project Management for Avison Young in NYC. I graduated from Penn State in 2021 with a major in Criminology and a minor in Human Development and Family Studies. I originally went to college with the intention of being a lawyer and was lucky enough to intern under a judge for several summers.
In 2020, when the world felt like it was ending due to COVID-19, I began to second think my career plan. I took time to decide if law was a career I was genuinely interested in or just something that felt familiar. That fall, I made the hard decision to not go to law school. This left me in a state of anxiety and confusion with what I was going to do next. My dad works in real estate and suggested that I get my real estate license to have as a “back up.”
Following my graduation from Penn State in 2021, I took my real estate exam and passed on the first try. I was thrilled and now felt a sense of security in my future. I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to work at Avison Young, a global real estate company, doing Project Management and Business Development. This was a job I had never even heard about, yet its description matched everything I was interested in. I am currently in charge of helping manage multiple commercial real estate office build outs from beginning to end. I am constantly on the go, checking on different job sites and meeting new people every day.
A year later since starting at Avison Young, I can happily say that I am so thankful I made that hard decision to change my career path senior year and I am now doing what I love. I hope my story can inspire some of you to not always stick to what you think you should do in life, but rather take a chance and see where you can end up in your career.
- lesscollegestress
- Aug 21, 2022
We all know that the media, on both sides of the political spectrum, spreads negative news. But why?
The podcast attached (I recommended Freakanomics last week) features a Dartmouth professor who studies excessive media consumption and how negativity stimulates the human brain.
A researcher states, “Humans have a built-in negativity bias.” The English language features more specific words for negativity, as well as morality, than for positivity. These divide people and their perception of others into good and evil. Our media taps into “the power of bad.”
The newspaper principle “If it bleeds, it leads” has jumped off the charts. Our television and social media outlets capitalize on this very successfully. Newspapers, whose market share has dropped dramatically, are guilty too, but with less impact because a reading consumer is not hearing a powerful voice and the intense, alarming music introducing it. Research shows that US media is more negative than it is in other countries where there is less of a profit motive.
What does this have to do with college admissions? Since we are attracted to negativity, rather than focusing on great student outcomes, we are drawn to stories about the low acceptance rates at elite colleges and salacious stories like Varsity Blues. Are we really surprised that there is corruption in college admissions, or is just fun to see celebrities punished for their elitism? Nearly every college website features promising research projects, award winners, and growth. Can we skip opening an Ivy website and click on a top-ranked public research university instead?
All of this has given me some personal insight. While there is more bad college news out there I could post, I try to share positive news and alternate options to unlikely colleges. Finally-I have an answer to my lackluster social media insights! While being irate might earn me more clicks, I accept my algorithmic limits.
- lesscollegestress
- Aug 14, 2022
Colleges are asking students to write essays about their opinions and actions regarding social justice and cultural issues. Many students haven't focused on these issues in high school. Here are some podcast suggestions that will help them get up to speed:
Freakanomics: See how culture/the sciences/technology/economics are all connected. Host Stephen Dubner sometimes features Angela Duckworth (UPenn psychology professor/writer of Grit as a guest.
This recent episode illustrates why the US is truly culturally different than many other countries, explaining why our way of life doesn't translate well to some other countries (we're "loose" and they're "tight").
Link to this show here: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/american-culture-1/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519
TED-podcasts: Browse through often-inspiring podcasts on positivity, design, mental health, business, science, climate, whatever makes us human. Everything you can imagine, mostly short, some long.
Learn social justice basics, in these talks below:
https://www.ted.com/playlists/445/talks_to_help_you_understand_s
https://www.ted.com/search?page=1&q=podcasts
The Argument: NYTimes podcast features experts respectfully debating two, or sometimes three, sides of major issues, moderated by libertarian columnist Jane Costin.
Good example: this episode entitled: Who Decides the Right Way to Protest? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/opinion/the-argument-george-floyd-protests-us.html
Two of my personal favorites:
Uncomfortable with social media companies manipulating your information ?
See Tristan Harris’s film The Social Dilemma and listen to his podcast Your Undivided Attention
"The Cure for Hate" episode: https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/11-the-cure-for-hate
The Ezra Klein Show:
The author of Why We’re Polarized offers polite discussions of big issues, often challenging himself while staying true to his ideals.
Here's one of several excellent episodes focusing on the Dobbs decision:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dobbs-decision-isnt-just-about-abortion-its-about-power/id1548604447?i=1000567732834
Feel free to share your suggestions with me.