Promise Voices

Adjusting to post-secondary: If you’re expecting High School Part II, you are in for a surprise!

I’ve always enjoyed learning how things work. I consider myself mechanically-minded and I was good at math, but I also enjoyed art. I wasn’t sure at first what to focus on in post-secondary, but after touring a few schools and learning more about different programs and fields, I discovered that becoming a mechanical draftsman would offer a career in which I could actually blend all of my interests and strengths. This profession requires mathematical knowledge, an understanding of how things work, and strong visualization skills.

Once I enrolled in Pittsburgh Technical College, I was excited to start a new chapter in life. But many aspects of the transition weren’t quite what I expected. I guess to some extent I anticipated that post-secondary would be just like high school, only with larger course requirements. That simplistic expectation was far from the truth—continuing your education after high school isn’t much like high school at all!

I was surprised to learn that courses through my program were organized in a way that actually fit my schedule. So, I didn’t have to worry about finding a job that would accommodate my school schedule, instead I could line up classes at times that fit the other parts of my life.

It’s also important to recognize your own responsibility in completing your program. Yes, there are advisors to help you be aware of the course requirements, but there are also a lot of areas where it’s up to you to make choices about what to study. The decisions you make will determine how you grow as a professional, so this is a key time to consider what topics are most important to you and your future plans. You will also have to manage your course load, whether it’s deciding how many credits to take each semester, if you’ll attend in the summer, or what classes to take when—no one gives you a plan to follow, it’s all up to you.

The biggest barrier for me to overcome was allocating the right amount of time to particular tasks. I also had to work on my ability to order tasks from most to least important. Sometimes tests happen the same week a paper is due, and if you have a job or participate in extracurricular activities, those may dominate your calendar on occasion too. Somehow you must prioritize your time to meet deadlines and accomplish all that needs to be done.

Once you graduate, the hard work really does pay off! For me, it was a surreal feeling when I graduated to realize that a few key choices were what led me to getting a spot directly in the professional world as a Mechanical Draftsman for Bloom Engineering Company. Having spent a few years in the field, now I’m working toward a new goal by heading back to school, this time studying business administration.

If I could offer any advice to students heading off to post-secondary schools in the fall, it would be to take it seriously! It may not be easy at first, but giving education 100% of your effort is a vital mindset in order to be successful. Stay focused on your studies, even if it means missing a party or two to study for an exam or finish up an important project. It may seem like a sacrifice at the time, but it will definitely make a difference in your end results!