The Survey

Back in August, I received a request from the university where I finally completed my Bachelor’s degree to fill out a survey on the benefits of my education from their institution. How has this education benefitted your career? Or how has it helped you to obtain a graduate degree? --- the survey asked. 

In truth, I have used my education to neither of those ends. A result of a combination of both circumstance and choice, I suppose. Below is the letter I could not fit in the survey to my undergraduate degree-granting institution.

Dear University,

I was a transfer student to your school from two different universities in Louisiana and a community college in Asheville, NC before completing my degree in your halls. I was 25 when I entered your school and had been working my way through college. I still have over $20,000 in student loans to pay down. I was determined that my education should count for something since I had worked so hard to achieve it but as it turns out – 6 years later – it was really just a neat experience. I studied in China, learned Mandarin; I studied in India, learned Hindi.

The map below is what I have achieved since graduation. It is my resume. 

 

Blue Line:  Chapel Hill, NC to Seattle, WA – 2009

Red Line:  Seattle, WA to New Orleans, LA – 2011

Black Line:  New Orleans, LA to Keswick, VA – 2013 

This is how I have applied my degree in Asian Studies & Political Science:  I packed it into a car with my dog and hit the American Road. I have completed one giant circuitous journey around the country beginning in the Spring of 2009 - meeting and working with a wide array of people in various jobs along the way. And ending in the Summer of 2013 with the request to complete a survey regarding the value of my university education.

I hope that this information will be useful for your future students.

Warm Regards,

Kerin Leche

Class of December 2007