This is the first article in a two-part series that profiles recent alumni and their experiences after graduation.
From finding a job and a new apartment to making new friends, life after Tufts can seem daunting. Yet leaving behind hour-long Dewick lunches and a campus where classes and activities are all within a 15-minute walk of each other might not be so scary. The Daily caught up with five recent Tufts alums to examine the transition to life after Tufts.
Nikki Bruce (LA '08)
Despite leaving the Hill behind when she graduated from Tufts, Nikki Bruce didn't say goodbye to Somerville. Bruce now works as the Operations Coordinator at the Planned Parenthood Express Center in Davis Square. Her role is to oversee the daily operations of the clinic, which can include anything from managing staff to ordering birth control. Apart from organizing lab results and tests, Bruce also coordinates with the Boston office of external affairs to increase Planned Parenthood's visibility in the community.
As she enjoys her work at Planned Parenthood, Bruce affirms that life after college is not always something to fear.
"The real world isn't as scary a place as it sounds," she said. "It's really nice to have a job and have a bit more flexibility in terms of being done with your day at a certain time."
In addition to nights and weekends without problem sets and papers taking away free time, post-college life also offers the benefit of meeting new people.
"I enjoy being out in the real world and working with people who are more experienced than I am," Bruce said.
After graduating, Bruce hadn't planned on staying so close to her alma mater.
"I wanted to stay in Boston and experience it as a non-student. I was open to moving and relocating, but it just sort of happened [that I stayed in Davis]." Yet she explained that as a recent graduate, Davis can seem like a totally different place.
"I have a different lens on Davis Square as a non-student and as a manager of a local business," she said. "I look to my neighbors as colleagues. It's not just a hang-out space for me anymore."
Bruce emphasized, though, that it's still comforting to see Jumbos around. "I love when I see Tufts people walking around and seeing them come to the clinic," she said. "I love seeing the Tufts sweatshirt in my office."
Content at Planned Parenthood, Bruce is unsure where her future will take her. Although she foresees enrolling at business school at some point, she is happy with her new job for the time being. "I don't really have plans to leave Planned Parenthood any time soon," she said.
Julia Cheong (LA '09)
Julia Cheong utilized internships to succeed in finding her job despite a declining economy. After graduating in May, Cheong interned at ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability from June to August and then began another internship at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education at the end of August, where she was just offered a full-time position as a Data Specialist.
For Cheong, the job search was undeniably impacted by the economy.
"There are a lot of older candidates who have a few years' full-time work experience that are also competing for entry-level jobs," she said. "It wasn't unusual for a hiring manager to tell me up front at an interview that they've picked five resumes out of three or four hundred."
The difficulty of finding a job made the transition to life after Tufts hard. "[The transition has] been incredibly challenging, mostly because it's been so hard to get a full-time job," she said. "It was just an unfortunate year to graduate."
Yet Cheong coped with these pressures by staying in the Boston area with her friends.
"I stayed in Boston because I wanted to stay in a familiar environment while I was going through so many life transitions," she said.
Indeed, staying in Boston at least took some of the stress out of finding a place to live. "Finding an apartment was easy," she said. "My roommates and I looked for two days, and we fell in love with the third apartment we saw. We signed the lease on that same day."
Cheong said that while she plans to work in the immediate future, she sees herself pursuing an advanced degree down the line.
"I want to work for a couple more years to figure out exactly what additional skills or training I need to advance in my line of work," she said. "Once I have that figured out, I'll go to grad school."
Jonathan Adler (LA '08)
Upon graduating from Tufts in 2008, Jonathan Adler started his career working as a corporate paralegal at the law firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP, but he recently started a new job in the TV department of the talent agency Creative Artists.
Fortunately for Adler, the declining economy did not hinder his job search.
"I was luckier than most," he said. "I got my first job in February of my senior year; I'm not a normal case. I feel really lucky."
Now Adler helps the agent he works for find new talent, putting news anchors on the air and managing their careers. For Adler, this new career path is one that follows his passion.
"I loved TV and entertainment," Adler said. "I had always wanted to do this."
Despite the ease of finding a job, however, there were parts of the move to the real world that adversely affected Adler.
"The transition is hard," he said. "It's weird because it comes to you in different ways. I don't think about Tufts all the time. It will occur to me now and again that I miss being on campus."
One thing that made this transition especially difficult for Adler is that he had never lived off campus at Tufts.
"I always lived in the dorms, so it was my first time signing a lease," he said. "It's been good, but definitely overwhelming at first."
Having just started his new job, Adler is unsure where it will lead. But for now, he is happy where he is.
"I plan to pursue my interests in the field of entertainment — what exactly that means I don't know," he said. "I just know right now I like my job, and I'll see where it goes."
