Sophia Keith Dela Cruz Ong

Mrs. Ebel

ERWC

2022 March 06

Future plans

I have always dreamt of working for the United Nations ever since the fifth grade. The

whole system and process of nations interacting with each other and helping one another is so

fascinating to me that I decided to pursue an educational route which could possibly lead me to

my dream of working closely with international affairs. Almost all of my choices in regards to

education have been in support of this plan; taking more than the required credits for foreign

language classes, engaging in clubs and other extracurricular activities that could help me

cultivate skills and knowledge within the career, and so much more. However, with the pandemic

spreading all over the globe and forcing everyone to quarantine, I was hit with reality and started

struggling with my plans for the future. Do I really want to commit to this career? Will I succeed

in this field? What if I change my mind later on? These are only a few of the questions that I’ve

asked myself after getting so much time alone with my thoughts. It ruined me. These thoughts

sabotaged my plan that was supposed to last decades and took years in the making.

Though being at home for most of the quarantine made me question my choices for my

future, it also enabled me to explore more options and dive deeper into the specifics of each

individual job that might be a better fit for me now. After quite the research, I somehow

rediscovered my passion for the cultural aspects of everything around me and the calmness I

always seem to find within airports and embassies. It was quite embarrassing to admit that even

after all that doubt I had for my plans, I still came back to the same old decision as always,
International Affairs. This being said, I only considered and applied to schools that offer either

International Studies or International Business as well as a really good study abroad program.

These schools include UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal

State Long Beach. All of these schools are within the state as I didn’t want to go too far from my

parents who are now senior citizens and I want to be as close as possible if ever anything urgent

happens. As of right now, I have been accepted into Cal State Fullerton with my application for a

pre-International Business major. Ideally, I would have wanted to stick to International studies

and focus more on the study of cultures and countries instead of focusing on the business aspect,

however, this major could guide me into jobs that provide the same cultural and travel

experiences that I wanted with International studies or affairs. If anything, most jobs within

International Business careers earn more after graduation than students that took up International

studies.

In this day and age, how much you earn is very crucial to how you will be living

everyday. Naturally, I have to consider my choices for my future with regards to how much I

could earn within that field. A quick search online will tell you that a career within international

affairs earns an average of $52,000-$120,000 a year, which is quite the range but the starting

salaries are pretty decent. It is also these yearly salary averages that encourage my parents to

support my future plans as they deem the jobs within this field as “stable”. If I were to

successfully graduate with an international studies or business degree and land a job that pays

well enough to keep me financially stable for a good few years, then I will be content and live

my life with no regrets.