Reese McCuan

The best career advice I've received is that it's going to take longer than you expect - 100% just about job applications and what you're qualified for, and just the overall process. Being patient with your life and the job application itself is so important. It's not necessarily always going to work out when you want it to, and your plans are going to be deviated, and there are going to be bumps in the road along the way. I definitely realized that throughout my college career, from freshman to senior year, there were a lot of things that happened that I didn't necessarily want to happen. But to keep being persistent, and keep applying to jobs, and keep working towards your goal, no matter what comes your way, is probably some of the best advice that I've received and that I give to people even now - don't give up and stay persistent and stay consistent as well.

I would tell them that the sky's the limit for anything that they want to do, whether it's going into a pre-professional program, or going into athletics, or really doing anything that they strive for - they can do it just as well as anyone else can. Going into college, you definitely realize that there are more women in these fields than you would think. For me, I'm a STEM major, and there are so much more women in STEM than you would think. As long as you prepare, and as long as you work towards your goals, and are still passionate and ambitious about what you want to do, then you will achieve them 100%.

The biggest challenges right now are definitely finding entry-level jobs as a graduating undergraduate student. I have realized that there are a lot of jobs that I would like to have, but are not qualified for, unfortunately. Being a student athlete, you don't have a lot of time to really do a full-time job during school, or even part-time. A lot of my peers who aren't student athletes are working in labs, in research labs with professors because they have the time to do so, but because my schedule is so full, I don't really have the time to do that. But I have been given some opportunities through health programs and agriculture programs for jobs, so I do have the opportunity to work there and gain experience that I'm really excited about.

Honesty is a big one, and communication, 100%. Just being straight up with people, and professionally, of course, sacrificing your pride and the possibility of embarrassment to be honest with those that you are close with, or that you work with, I think is a very important value to have. That just makes you a better person in general, and also makes you accountable as an employee and as a worker as well. And then communicating, of course, is always something that I'm an advocate for, where you can solve problems by just talking with one another instead of fighting or ignoring the problem - it's just going to make life a lot easier.