I’m currently a commerce student at McGill, completing my final year (finishing in 3 instead of 4 yrs). Over the past few yrs, I’ve become increasingly disinterested by commerce, and finally embracing my natural passion for prison & criminal justice reform. The problem-I have barely anything to show for it, is it still worth applying? This past summer I worked a little in sociology as an RA (in commerce tho) -wrote a 30 page history on the police, attended an academic conf on reinventing police?
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hi there,
a mcgill student! wow. don’t get a ton of those around here.
i’m not really sure what you’re applying to, as you didn’t specify? but i’ll do my best to give what advice i feel like i can.
your natural passion sounds very cool to me— we definitely need good people working on prison and criminal justice reform. i think there’s a lot of value in pursuing something that genuinely interests you, as opposed to something that you’re disinterested in. it’s a little cliche to say, but you only live one life, so you might as well spend it doing something that really appeals to you.
even if you don’t have a lot of experience in the realm of what you want to go after, i’m sure there’s a ton from your commerce degree that would be transferable to that field. think about what you’ve learned from your current program— critical thinking skills, research skills, and writing skills are some things i can think of that would be useful in your desired field. i’m sure there’s also something useful you’ve gained specifically from commerce that would give you an edge in the criminal justice field.
people switch their career tracks all the time, and it doesn’t mean that they need to start from scratch. you have an educational background that you can use to your advantage!
anyway, i’m only technically supposed to answer questions that fall within the realm of u of t, but i’ll do what i’d do for a u of t student and suggest that you talk to a career advisor. mcgill’s career advising centre can be found here. a career advisor will be more qualified to talk you through this decision than i am!
best of luck figuring things out! i’m rooting for you.
be Boundless,
aska