My internship was in the Admissions Office of St. Edward’s University. This semester (year) has been very different due to the Covid Pandemic that has taken the world by storm. I was very nervous as most internships were not really hiring this Spring Semester and the ones that were I did not hear back from. So I was stressed that I would not get one, but I was fortunate enough to have my boss help me and make my work study job my internship this semester. My work study job was working in Admissions, which entails my day to day tasks that were; checking mail, indexing and entering data from the records from potential/incoming students, application processing, and scanning documents into our school system. My boss would create these batches of documents for me from the papers I would scan to her and I would index them into the system to add or complete out the student’s profile. I would say the most interesting thing about my job was seeing/experiencing how the back-end of the application process goes for the University. It was eye-opening to see how much time goes into creating and completing these individual profiles for potential or incoming students. The University receives many documents (transcripts, recommendation letters, resumes, essays, ect.) from across the world from incoming students that are applying to the University, whether its for undergraduate or graduate programs, that have to be put into the system to create ID’s and profiles for said students. It can be very overwhelming at times especially during the Fall Semester, as that is the busiest time for the Admissions Office, as we are receiving many documents from incoming students. However, I enjoyed the learning experience and have gained many skills that I never thought of. For instance I have learned to be more flexible and adaptable to these new changes from being remote during this pandemic. As well as sharpened my attention to detail skill that was lacking in the beginning, when I first started and improved my computer skills greatly. I quite enjoy my job as it suits my personality very well, with that being said, if you are more introverted and prefer to work alone, this job is great for you as you are mainly alone completing your tasks/projects. With of course the guidance of your supervisor being there when you have questions about the projects you are doing. I think the most surprising things that happened to me during this internship was one the winter storm that took over Texas in late February, blanketing the State and University in layers of snow and the second one was the department office in Main Building flooding due to the winter storm. The flooding that damaged the Admissions/Financial Aid office was very stressful, due to the whole office having to salvage whatever wasn’t damaged and move it to another part of Main Building. That was something that I was not prepared for and just added to the weirdest year I’ve ever experienced. Other than that, my internship has made me realize and appreciate the work that the back end of the admission office does for all these incoming students. Moreover, it helped me expand my career choices when I graduate, to not only what is within my major choice. I did not find this internship per se, I was already working in Admissions, and then asked my boss if it was fine to use my work study job as my internship this semester due the pandemic limiting hiring positions.
