Reality sets in when your softball career is coming to an end. Kelsey Miller, the former third baseman for Dartmouth shares her journey and struggle finding a job after softball and college was over.

Choosing to commit to Dartmouth to play Ivy League softball was the biggest decision of my life thus far. Aside from the beautiful campus and the chance to play Division I, the Ivy League education and all that comes with that was one of the biggest selling points for me.

I knew that with a degree as prestigious as one from Dartmouth, I would be able to have the successful career that I expected of myself.

However, four years later in the fall of 2015 this confidence in my ability to graduate college and find the perfect job quickly diminished due to it all too quickly becoming reality.

When I came in as a freshman, I was set on majoring in biomedical engineering. Sophomore year, after I had officially sworn off biology, I changed my plan to just engineering.

And once again, in the fall of my fourth year, I was having severe doubts about what I wanted to do with my life, and if I actually wanted to be an engineer. I only had two more classes to go for my Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Sciences degree, but whether I wanted to continue with my fifth year to get a Bachelor of Engineering degree was up for huge debate.

The security of my future I thought I would have after my four years was nowhere to be found.

I decided that my solution was to not decide. I would go through Dartmouth's fall recruiting process, and I would network with alums and talk to professors, and I would try my absolute hardest to find a job.

At the end, if I did not get a job that I thought I would like then I would go do my fifth year. After applying to thirty plus jobs in various fields, I received an offer in October from Optum Consulting to be in their Leadership Acceleration Program. I accepted the job and am currently living in Minneapolis working as a healthcare consultant.

Six months into my new adult life, I am very happy and believe that I made the right decision for me.

I realize now that nothing can take away the stress and anxiety over deciding your future. Going to an Ivy League school does not guarantee that finding a job and having a successful career will be easy.

But there is one huge advantage: it gives you opportunities; opportunities to speak with thousands of alumni that want desperately to help you; opportunities to apply for hundreds of jobs that specifically reach out to Ivy League kids; and plenty of opportunities to become the student that can succeed at whatever job may come your way.

My journey of finding a job after college was definitely not as smooth sailing as I had anticipated. But by attending an Ivy League institution, I put myself in a place where there were multiple avenues for success and endless opportunities.

As a former student athlete, I know that all we can ask for, on and off the field, is a chance to show our greatness. And that is exactly what an Ivy League school has to offer.

By Kelsey Miller
Dartmouth '16

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