I attended UC Davis, which is fortunate to have an excellent internship and career center. Their website has so many resources it’s hard to keep track. There are resources you’d expect, like the “Aggie Job Link” to connect students with employers, or resume and interview advice for landing the perfect job. What might surprise some readers is that I was less attracted to those resources and more intrigued by links to the Peace Corp, Forest Service, and international resources.

Other readers will find this familiar. That’s because more and more college students are trying to avoid the “real world” of a career, and instead seek other opportunities: getting part-time jobs and internships, pursuing rockstar fame, traveling to far-off destinations, or seeking out programs like AmeriCorps. I thought I’d be one of them.

I wouldn’t say one life-choice is better than another. I will say why I chose a career over the alternatives, and how Accenture fits in. It wasn’t until around February of this year that I started considering the job market. I made this decision based on a variety of factors: solid advice from my family and friends, uncertainty of the future without a job, and a desire to gain valuable skills for my resume. Most importantly, I realized that by finding the right job I could create opportunities for myself, not eliminate them.

Working at Accenture has meant exposure to talented people and new places. It has also meant building my resume by getting involved in challenging projects and going outside my comfort zone. And it has offered financial independence from my family, something new for many college students. Generally speaking, this career gives me many of the things I was looking for in a life after college, career wise and otherwise. While taking this job did mean postponing my trip to Eastern Europe, I definitely plan on rescheduling it!