Well, my parents were right. Interviews start to pick up in mid-February. But what’s the difference between where I was in February 2025 and February 2026? I was still graduating from a B.Arch with the same number of internships under my belt and a relatively good GPA. Now, I’m graduating with a Master of High Performance Buildings and just a bit more experience with being a teaching assistant. What changed, really?
Honestly, it’s probably my outlook on things. Yes, the desperation and looming anxiety of being homeless remains the same, but now I’m genuinely more assured in what I want to do after school. Initially, I treated my masters program as a plan B for not getting hired. Over time, however, my passion for sustainability and architectural engineering picked up and my responses to “when can you start” changed from “I can start right away” to “I can start right away as long as I can still attend my courses online”. Education is a privilege that I acknowledged when I started my undergraduate program but somehow forgot about when I started my masters. Being able to learn instead of worrying about how to pay my bills is something that only a fraction of people around the world get to do on any given day. I am lucky to be where I am. Without pursuing my masters program, I would have never been able to work on my favorite project that earned me another award to add to my resume. Without going back to school, I wouldn’t have been able to develop relationships with some of my closest friends.
Because of all this, my passion is palpable in interviews. It’s easy to acknowledge that I want to work without expressing disinterest in education when you actually care about school. This desire to carry on learning as I work is what gets me the follow-up interview.
Now for the unsolicited advice: really, genuinely try to find something to be grateful for in your life. For the students, try to recognize what you love about what you’re studying. For any “real” adults, acknowledge something you love about the work you’re doing now. Being miserable and only looking at what you do through a negative lens is what leads to burnout. It’s always okay to gripe about the things that are annoying you, but maintaining a positive attitude overall will save your mental health.
Additionally, don’t just look at your surroundings, look inward as well. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Look at what you are passionate about and what you may want to avoid when you start applying for full-time positions. Knowing yourself is just as important as knowing what you want to study. Self-reflection and self-care are crucial, don’t forget about that as you’re navigating school.
I really didn’t understand what my parents meant when they told me to apply to every job opportunity and to truly identify what I like about each company. There’s no dread behind these repetitive tasks, as I’m always learning something new about the architecture field in the process. I hope that all of you can soon feel the same about applying to jobs and internships as well.