Opportunities of Maverick Advantage Program for College Students
Three of five distinguishing activities I plan to participate in at UTA are career development, community engagement, and global engagement. I choose career development because it is easier for me to find a job after graduate from UTA with knowledge and skills from internships or part-jobs. Internships, part-time jobs also help me, as a student, be more mature, responsible, organized and I can also have money for school tuition and family. I consider community engagement because I want to do something good for the community. By participate in social activities such as volunteering and service learning, I can also improve my communication, problem solving skills and get more friends outside campus. The last distinguishing activity that I choose is global engagement because I am always wanting to study abroad.
Studying at another country will give me a lot of priceless experiences that I will not get from where I live. It is hard to find a job because many of the jobs out there require past experiences, but I’ve never had job before. I am also a shy person, so I am not interested in applying for a position that requires a lot communication. My family doesn’t support and encourage me to get a job because my parents don’t want me to get distracted from studying and my scholarship money is already cover the tuition and other fees. Nonetheless, I still want to get a job either on-campus or off-campus because just spend my time for studying is boring and get a job also make my resume look nicer.
During my high school year, I’ve spent a lot of my time for volunteering because my Avid class require fifteen hours of volunteer each semester to pass the class. I and my friends usually went to Mission Arlington because it is near our houses and we didn’t have to do so much work. It was fun although it is a bit cold in winter and spring. I and my family went here from Vietnam four years ago, so I have a lot experiences of living in another country. I think my experiences will be very helpful when I study abroad. I think part-time jobs and internships are important for my future. I plan to become a mechanical engineer after graduation so the experiences and other skills such as communication skills, critical thinking skills I can get from taking on a part-time job or internship will be very useful. Understanding the subject through class lecture is not enough, to be a successful engineer, I must put what I’ve learned into practice and internship is a great opportunity for me to do that. Networking and connecting with others are also very important for engineering career.
By studying abroad, I will have a chance to increase my network and improve my communication skills. Also, putting study abroad on my resume and talking about it in my interview can set me apart from other application. Volunteering is also a great way for networking, making connection and helping the community around me. There are a lot of resources and activities in UTA that can assist me in successfully completing three of the five distinguishing activities before graduation. The UTA Lockheed Martin Career Development Center is very helpful when I need advices about what should I do to prepare for my career and how to write a good resume. They also offer workshops about job search strategy and resume, mock interview, job fairs and other exciting events. The other campus resource is academic learning centers such as the Chemistry Clinic, English Writing Center, Math Clinic. I never went to the Math Clinic before, but I went to the Chemistry Clinic once. The tutor helped me with the hard problems in the review for the test.
To get an internship or study abroad, I must maintain high GPA, so these academic learning centers are very useful. There are also numerous of interesting events on campus that help me to connect with other people.
