by One of our blog finalists Rosa has already planned out her Senior year of high school. Her most important year!
Senior year. Oh goodness gracious, I seriously never thought it would come. I’ve been waiting my whole life to apply to college and get into Harvard (yeah, I know dream big right?) and now that I’m here I’m not only very nervous but also somewhat balking. I mean where do I start? First of all, since I’m a huge procrastinator and only visited a few schools during the spring, I’m going hard on college visits this month. I sorted out all of the college mail I got during the past year (pack rat problems, I know), and only kept mail from colleges that I was interested in. From there, I sorted them by location, prioritized them by selectivity and ta da! I had my college visitation list. So next week, I’m going to visit some of my top schools (and those with the most awesome mail 🙂 ). I’ve also decided I am going to overachieve and finish my college apps by October…or well, I want to. Let’s just say my senior year is going to be ridiculous; I still want to take one more SAT in October and some subject tests in November. Did I mention I’m also getting ready to die with the hardest classes I’ve ever taken—hello AP Chemistry/Calculus/European History/English/Spanish and accelerated physics all at the same time! Yay!! I’m praying my guidance counselor is ready to be my crutch during this entire process because I’m going to need help. My parents both went to college in Italy and so nobody in my family really knows what to do—let’s just say it’s interesting being the firstborn in a family of immigrants. I’m just as thrilled for the second half of senior year as I’m nervous for the first half though. Prom, friends, graduation—I can’t wait 🙂
Name: Rosa Cuppari
Current School Attending: Union Catholic Regional High School
Anticipated College Major: International Relations and Political Science
Hometown: Kenilworth
State: NJ
About Rosa: Hey Everyone! My name’s Rosa and I’m a sweet and sassy seventeen year old full blooded Italian! I’m a smart brunette with a ton of blonde moments who is still a little kid at heart—Saturday morning cartoons and early bedtimes anyone? I’m also a nerdy athlete—I love lacrosse and soccer but am also a voracious reader and an avid forensicator (aka public speaker and debater). I love traveling, eating, and my biggest dream is becoming president of the United States 🙂
First Remove the word possibly from Doctorate. You will DEFINITELY need a datcorote (commonly called a PhD) in order to have even a small chance at being a college professor.I’m going to start with the bad news first, just to get it out of the way: The job market for college English professors is TERRIBLE, and it’s very difficult to get in. For example, only 50% of the students who earned a PhD in Renaissance studies (Shakespeare and his contemporaries, which is one of the easier jobs to land) got tenure track jobs at universities. Only half. The other half, after spending 4 years in undergraduate college and another 5 to 7 years getting their PhD’s, did not get a job. You need to know that now.The first step is to get your undergraduate degree. It really should be in English, and you should start thinking about what areas within English interest you the most (writing, American literature, Theory, Modernism, etc). Tell your college advisor EARLY that you are interested in pursuing a PhD. He/She will (after probably trying to talk you out of it) help you get involved in things that will boost your resume and give you a better application for graduate school.After you get your Bachelor’s degree (your undergraduate), you will need to apply to Graduate school. Some programs only offer a Masters degree (which takes 1 to 2 years), while others continue right on to the PhD. You can expect to spend AT LEAST 5 years in graduate school, where you will take classes on your specific area of interest (mine Is Shakespeare), write papers, and present those papers at conferences. You will also likely be expected to teach a few undergraduate courses at this time. In graduate school, an A is the expected grade, a B is a poor grade, and a C is (literally) a failing grade. It takes A LOT of work, and that’s only if you get in. I know people who had OUTSTANDING undergraduate records, who got rejected from all of the Graduate schools they applied to.Once you have your PhD in hand, you start looking for jobs. This is also very competitive. The last time my university had an English opening, they had over 200 applicants for the job.I would recommend that, while in undergrad, you double major in English and Education. Like the previous answer recommended Get your high school teaching certification. That gives you something to fall back on if you have trouble getting into graduate school or getting a job at a University. Chase your dream, but have something ready in case you can’t catch it.