Alumni Voice

Life After Graduation, Still Undeclared

by Allegra Mangione

This month, I did something I never thought I’d do. I registered a business in my name.

As I was submitting the paperwork, the thought running through my mind was, “How did you get to this point? This is wild.” And it was. But life takes you wild places, doesn’t it?

Let’s back up. I graduated from Northeastern in 2018 with a degree in Human Services & International Affairs. I was a die-hard CSSH student. Before that, I was a lost Explore Program student without much to go on besides a passion for social justice and a pesky travel bug.

I did my co-ops at international nonprofit organizations that focused on health, education, and community development. They were what I now know are classic entry-level nonprofit roles: chaotic, requiring many hats, and a lot of work.

I was quite lost after graduation, but I knew two things for certain:

  1. I wanted to live in Colorado.
  2. I wanted to adopt a dog.

It was hard to explain to my professors, my advisors, my advocates, my parents, that after all I had invested in my education and career (time, money, emotional labor, the list goes on), the only things I was certain about were lifestyle related. Not career related. I had no fancy job lined up. I had poured so much energy into being the best I could be in school, co-op, and student organizations that I didn’t know who I was without them.

I thought I had everything figured out when I declared a major. I thought I was all set. But here I was, undeclared again, unsure of my next step.

I found a job with the words “development” and “communications” in the title at a Denver nonprofit organization with a mission I truly believed in. The role was similar to my co-ops—many hats. I quickly realized I was the organization’s first and only marketing person. With no marketing background, I was making things up as I went along. Somehow, I had gotten from Human Services to Marketing in less than a year after graduation.

The role ended up not being the right fit for me, in the long-term. My undeclared nature craved the ability to work with a wide variety of organizations. So, I started to look seriously into nonprofit consulting. I’m now building a network by doing informational interviews with professionals I want to emulate (a skill I was introduced to in Connections & Decisions). I’m learning what it takes to be a consultant. My next “major” decision is: What on earth am I going to specialize in?

I got some good advice in an informational interview a few weeks ago: “just pick the thing you love the most. You’ll get to do some of the rest, too.” It was what I needed to hear, this third time around of being undeclared.

What feels different now, compared to when I was 18, is that I now know life is a series of “picking a major” moments. They don’t stop. The major you choose isn’t the End-All-Be-All. So, maybe it would be helpful to think of picking a major, a job, whatever it is, less as a decision and more as a step on a path. There will be will be other steps too, so there’s no way you can pick the “wrong thing.” Whatever you pick, it’s going to lead you to your next step. There’s no way for you to know, right now, what that step is going to be. The only thing you have to do is be open to it when it comes.

You never know, in a couple of years you might just find yourself in Colorado, launching a consulting business, being a dog momma, and looking out at a stellar mountain view. You’ll definitely find yourself in your version of that. It’ll never be easy, but I bet it’ll be sweet when it comes.