Just to make ends meet you're going to have to work hard. Travel plans, kids, a bottle of evian or dom perignon, and the next thing you know, you're working EXTRA hard.

So you can choose. Do you want to work extra hard at something you don't care about or do you want to work extra hard at something that you find fulfilling?

Because no matter how you slice it, you're right, sometimes you'll find yourself spending more waking hours with the people that you work with than you do with your family. So it better be good, huh?

What's good? Is it good to do work that you know creates a social benefit? Is it good to do work that you find intellectually satisfying? Is it good to do work that maybe pays a little less but gets you home by 5:30 every day so you can spend time with your significant other? Only you know that, and oh boy, anyone who actually KNOWS what it is they want when they're about to start their senior year of college has both my admiration and my fear.

My admiration because it is so rare to be sufficiently self directed or experienced at 21 that a major life decision can be made once and for all. My fear because I wonder whether anyone who knows exactly what he or she wants to do in life that early has truly considered all the options and maybe they're just a little TOO focused.

Paper pushing, yuck. I would hate to push paper for a living. Man, I've got better things to do, I can change the world. OH, wait, you know, from the outside looking in someone might say that I DO push paper all day. But you know what? I love my work, I love what I do, I love the people I work with (and don't discount the importance of that when you're deciding what to do), and I am changing the world. Not as fast as some OKactivists would like, but just a little step at a time. I get great satisfaction from my work -- intellectual satisfaction, because it's not an easy job, and emotional satisfaction, because I feel like I'm contributing to the greater good. But still I'm pushing paper. So...

Think about graduate school. Think about getting a year in at a company that will look good on a resume and keep your options open. Think about whether there's a way to combine all of your interests in one job. Think about your priorities. There's no reason that taking this job means that you'll retire from this job. People change jobs, careers, all the time. And you're right, you are a hot commodity. Good for you not to kid yourself that everyone likes to have a diverse workforce, but don't kid yourself either that people get hired just because they're identifiably members of some minority or other. You still have to be smart, grrrl. Don't sell yourself short.

I like the sound of the rotation through the company -- that's likely to give you a better idea of what it is you want from work. It'll give you the chance to work with different personalities and it could open your eyes to interests that you didn't know you had because you were never exposed to them before.

But. But. But. Only you know. The fact that you are thinking hard about this decision tells me that you will eventually find exactly what works for you. You don't have to do it today ('tho you might, who knows?). Life is a process. You never stop growing. And work is a big part of life. So it evolves too.

Good energy going out to you. Enjoy your last year of college. Dance hard. Study hard. Stay up late to do both. Take an unexpected class or two (my best friend didn't know that she had natural drawing abilities until she took a drawing class during her last semester in college). Keep a journal. Keep asking the hard questions. Keep saying "what next?"

and keep the
Peace.