I have a strong reputation in the actuarial program here at
the University of Illinois. I developed my reputation through becoming steadily
more involved in the program and adding to it during my time here. I started
gaining credibility by going to club events in the beginning of freshman year.
This showed commitment to the club and helped grow my network. I added credibility
through my internship at State Farm during that spring semester, and was then
voted onto the club’s executive board for the following year. While on the
board, I initiated new programs and helped plan and execute annual events. Each
year I’ve gained more responsibility and credibility, eventually becoming the president
of the club. To keep my reputation intact, I manage the club and create new
programs for it. I also teach two actuarial classes and serve on committees for
the mathematics department.
While I love my position in the club, there are definitely
times I wish I could get away from it. There’s a certain pressure to maintain a
professional appearance in the presence of club members and keep relationships
with club members and the executive board professional as well. We’re all
college students, and some of my best friends are in the club and on the
executive board, so it’s hard to draw those lines sometimes. It’s also hard to
maintain that reputation when there’s a club event I’m expected to attend or
something I need to do to maintain my reputation, and I’d much rather be doing
other things. Most times I follow through with what needs to be done, but there
have been times when I’ve slipped.
I very rarely intentionally cash in on my reputation, but
there has been a time or two when that’s happened. There have been times when I’ve
had work to do or events to go to during the weekend and I’ve decided to make a
trip home instead. In general, though, I tend to stick to my normal routine.
It would help in this piece if you would answer the following question: reputation with whom? You start off talking about the Actuarial program - which I take to be the classes in that major and then associated academic activities. You then switch (or at least I perceived it to be a switch) to talking about the club, which I take to be quite a different thing. For example, in economics if you were to develop a reputation as a student with me as a professor, it would be through my course and your performance in that. There is an economics club. It's activities are entirely invisible to me. A student would did well in the club environment would not be elevated in my eyes, because I'm ignorant of the club environment.
ReplyDeleteYou also talk about your internship and that show further commitment. Who knows about that internship? Your fellow students? Your professors? Or only the people t the company where you did the internship?
In other words, you seem to be confounding your own personal commitment to Actuarial work, which is an important thing and I don't in any way want to diminish it, with what others come to understand about that commitment. It is the latter where the reputation lies.
On the cashing in issue, your examples sound more inadvertent than opportunistic. There is a difference between finding some balance in your life (going home once in a while) and deliberately taking advantage of a situation.