Being a student at Notre Dame is an amazing thing. Being in this community every day and being able to walk around this beautiful campus is special, and it is certainly difficult to think that soon I will graduate and be leaving. One of the best things about Notre Dame is that it helps its students along the way to make sure once you graduate, you have even more great things to do. The journey to after graduation is long, and can be very difficult, but ND makes sure that you have support all along the way.
Many Notre Dame students constantly think about what job they will have after ND, or what school they will further their education at. For business students, this often means internships and jobs in various fields. For science students, this can mean medical school. For other majors, this can be volunteer work, law school, and gap years. No matter what your interests are, there are programs and people here at ND to help you.
In my sophomore year, I determined I wanted to try for an internship in consulting after junior year. Popular business student destinations are banking and consulting positions, which both begin recruiting sometime during your sophomore year. You absolutely do not have to have your mind made up at that point, but it can help to get you ahead of the process. During my sophomore year, I attended programs at the Center for Career Development in the Duncan Student Center. These programs included resume reviews, career fairs, coffee chats with employers, and more. I was able to join pre-professional clubs, like the Student International Business Council (SIBC, for short) and join the Consulting Connect network. All of these events and programs helped sharpen my presentation skills, and they taught me how to research careers and network with ND alumni in those fields currently. By the fall of my junior year, I was applying to internships in consulting. Through mock interviews and help from clubs, I was able to practice and learn how to interview well, so that I got an internship in New York with a consulting firm. My experience went well, and I was able to accept an offer to go back there full-time after I graduate.
While my journey may have been focused on consulting, the programs I went through and the clubs I was a part of are available to students of many different disciplines. Notre Dame has departments that are solely focused on helping students find a great place to go or things to do following graduation. At no point in the journey are students alone, and they always have someone who will answer any question they have. In my journey, what I tried to do most was be curious, be open to new opportunities, and always know that Notre Dame’s alumni are always willing to help current students. You won’t be alone in your journey to after graduation, along the way you will get help from your peers, your mentors, the faculty and staff at Notre Dame, and alumni. Notre Dame students do great things after they leave campus, whether it is at a company or somewhere else - so always trust in your journey and keep trying your best, because with the help of Notre Dame, the journey is a smooth one. Even after you leave, the Notre Dame community extends beyond campus, and if you want to experience campus again, it will be here, waiting for you.