Work on transferable skills!

The skills you’ll acquire throughout your academic life offer more to your future career than you might realize! As a student, you develop technical skills related to your major. Engaging in a wide range of experiences outside of the classroom will help you build well-rounded, transferable skills to enhance your academic work and make you stand out from the crowd. 

By reflecting on some of the following questions, you can start to figure out what types of meaningful experiences could complement the academic field you are pursuing: 

 

Join a student organization - Besides being a meaningful way to connect with your peers over shared interests, being involved in a student organization is a great way to take the initiative on projects you care about and work together outside of the classroom. You can also add your voice and find your place within our campus community. You can also stay connected through both virtual and in-person campus life initiatives!  

Connect with the Career Center - Gaining real-world experience through an internship, research, or a co-op experience is one of the best ways to make yourself a competitive candidate for full-time jobs and graduate/professional school. The Career Center offers career advising and counseling, networking events, on-campus recruiting, on-campus interviews, career, professional skills education, and applied learning opportunities (internships, co-ops, and research) to help prepare you to envision your possible future career opportunities! 

 

Consider adding a minor to your degree - Complementing your primary major with a minor or certificate program can be a great way to add extra knowledge and new skills to your bachelor’s degree. This can also be a great way to explore other personal interests you might have as well as make you unique in the eyes of future employers. Exploring programs such as foreign language studies or entrepreneurship can be great additions to any major. Check out all the possibilities and talk them over with your advisor! 

 

Get involved with Service Learning and Community Engagement through the Shriver Center – Ever want to apply what you’re learning outside of the classroom? The Shriver Center has you covered! Through its Service-Learning and Community partnerships, you could step outside the boundaries of the classroom and experience the real world. Through The Shriver Center’s many opportunities, the UMBC community can continue to serve organizations through capacity-building projects and digital delivery of services. 

Consider becoming a student worker – UMBC has lots of job opportunities for students. This can be a great way to apply what you’ve learned at UMBC to help other students and gain useful job experience yourself! From tutoring to working in various offices around campus, be sure to check out UMBCworks and the Federal Work-Study job list for campus job postings throughout the year! 

 

Share your research - All current undergraduates who have conducted research, scholarship, or creative work in the last year may apply to present their results at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD). URCAD XXVI is now open for applications and will be held this year from April 18-24th.   You will be able to view presentations, watch films, see videos of dance and music performances, view artwork, and interact with presenters during the event. Applications are due by Friday, February 18th, so don’t miss out on this opportunity to share your work with our UMBC community!