Graduates, it's snag-a-job season. Ryan Holliday of New York Observer, a dropout, has a word or two.

This morning I was in Google Adwords, trying to hit the ground running on my hatchling-stage blogging. I was playing around with keywords (or phrase) "my first job out of college" when I came across "snag a job". At first I laughed at the coarseness of the term and mainly because I was not familiar with it at all and it honestly sounded a bit ghetto. It turned out to be the most-searched phrase when it comes to job hunting though.

So for some reason I hit the keywords "how I snagged a job out of college" (I don't remember how it came to me but it just did) in google. And then this came out in the first page: "Dear Graduates: Lessons from a college dropout". Ryan Holliday, a college dropout did have some inspiring words to give out to the people of the moment, the graduates. Then it hit me. After all the pomp and circumstance, each one of us have had that moment where we're confronted with the question, "Now what?", overwhelmed (or distraught maybe?) at the prospects (or the lack thereof) of staying straight in the path to fulfilling dreams.

PHOTO: Graduates tossing cap in the air. (Paul Bradbury/Getty Images)

Personally, as well as it is a series of challenges, I believe that life is also determined by decisions after another. We fail at them most of the time, but of course we learn in the process.

And then of course he has this one line that appealed to me the most:

"...don’t wait for your dream job. These things aren’t gifted, they ensue as a result of our choices. We will them into existence."

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The Year Ahead

Just yesterday, I had a serious life conversation with a friend over chat. We talked about how at our age we haven't had any significant achievement yet. We felt really behind compared to a lot of other people from our generation. Just look at 23-year old Kevin Durant who already made a name for himself in the NBA. But in a far more realistic sense, a lot of our peers are already working their way to achieving great things. And I really, really feel ashamed for all those years that I know were wasted. I could have been helping my family earn income by now. Instead, I am still one of their dependents. So as I'm headed to my last semester of undergrad, I have set a few things for accomplishing. These are things I need to remind myself that a year or two from now, these are the things I wanted to have happened by then. I want to see if I lived up to my own expectations.

1. Defend Thesis and Graduate 1st Sem
Right now is May and I have well over 5 months of experimenting, modeling and writing. Have an outlet of practicing the writing, e.g. this blog, part-time writing jobs, etc. Also, read at least 2 papers a day and summarize important points in an index card. Make sure full attention is given to all subjects left.

2. SPP 2013
The deadline is around September 2013. Write what you can about a small section of the thesis topic. Probably write about possible extensions of the topic. Remember that in the Philippine setting, your technique is novel. Collaborate with other people from the lab for more authorships.

3. UPM Induction
By first semester, get back into fitness training. You will also need all your skills and UPM knowledge training back to push for October induction in UPM. Remember that this was one of the reasons you were a CS for a sem last year. You had UPM tasks ahead of you so you always had the urgency to finish academic stuff earlier. Nice trick, wasn't it?

4. Grad School
You might have the worst undergrad records but you have three superiors that are ultra supportive so just give it a try. Take time to decide whether to take Physics or MSE.

5. CSE Exam
About time you get civil service license. Please, topnotch! Read on public policies and concerns esp. current events, foreign policies, trade policies, etc. And practice forming a strong opinion on each topic.

6. Asian Universities application period: Oct 2013 - March 2014
this: http://www.scholars4dev.com/3693/korean-government-scholarships-for-international-students/
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore or Korea are the favorable destinations. Get IELTS (1 for Asia + 1 for Europe)

7. European Universities application period: mid-Oct 2013 (calls) - Jan 2012
visit this: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/funding/scholarships_students_academics_en.php
and this: http://www.studyinsweden.se/Scholarships/SI-scholarships/The-Swedish-Institute-Study-Scholarships/#idx_3
and this: http://www.studyinsweden.se/Scholarships/Scholarship-Challenges/
and this: http://www.mamaself.eu/
or this: http://www.master-imacs.org/
or this: http://www.u-picardie.fr/mundus_MESC/index.php
or this: http://www.emmi-materials.eu/spip.php?article71
or this: http://mahara.eet.bme.hu/view/view.php?id=313&showmore=1

Schengen Area, Order of Preference:
   1. Scandinavia esp. Sweden
   2. France
   3. Spain/Portugal/Italy
   4. Germany/Netherlands/Switzerland

8. ...?

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