arch 20, 2000 ee The End is Near by Nicole Larson The end is finally near. For many students this is their last month of undergraduate education here at UNBC. More students than ever will be graduating in the convoca- tion ceremony of the year 2000. For the 2000 gradu- ates this is an exciting and somewhat scary prospect because what do you do now? From the way | see it you have a couple of options. A) Head right into your Masters, you never know when anoth- er degree will come in handy. Only problem with this is you should already have applied to the University of your choice for a space in their graduate program right now and a letter that begins “I’m sorry but...” is not the most heartening thing to find in your mailbox on a bright Tuesday morning. B) Start looking for a job now. For computer science majors and to a lesser degree business majors this is not such a scary prospect. You went into these fields because there were jobs there. Ok, | know there are a few CompSci SSS To the Editor, | have just read the letter in your February 2000 edition (of The CNC Free Press) enti- tled “The University that would be King.” | would like the opportunity to reply to the unsigned letter. | have not taken courses at the College, but | have been auditing courses at the University every year since it opened in 1994. | am retired so | can enjoy this luxury. Over the past 42 years | have attended six other colleges and universities which gives me some depth of under- standing of post- secondary institutions which my anony- mous friend may not share. He (she?) raises some valid and some vapid criticisms of UNBC The University of Northern British Columbia is young, but it is off to a good start as evi- denced by the ranking it has received in the Mclean’s annual university edition. Professors have left and pro- fessors have arrived since the opening, but this is the nor- mal state of affairs. | would be leery of any educational institution which did not expe- rience turnover in staff. Many students have come to UNBC in preference to other schools. We have a reputa- tions (which we share with CNC) for being an informal institution with approachable faculty and reasonably small classes. | spent two years in a university which had 25,000 undergraduates and | felt like a numbered piece of meat there. Not so for either of our schools. Enjoy the informality and cherish it. If you go on to Editorial Majors with a true and unadulterated love for pro- gramming and they would have sat in the dark for four years slowly turning a radioactive green in front of their computer screens any- way, but somewhere in the back of even their screen lit minds they too had to be thinking that there were jobs out there for people like them. C) Take some time off and hope that a job will find you. | don’t recommend this because even if you are the luckiest person in the world, chances are your dream job Letters a larger school you will understand what | mean. As for the statement that the University turns out Forestry graduates only, | refer you to a copy of the university calen- dar which, unlike the parking, is free. You will see that the University offers 41 different majors in the fields of Arts, Commerce, Science, Nursing and Social Work. The student body is quite varied in inter- ests, ages and backgrounds, just like CNC. Among my oldest friends are three with whom | was thrown in at various times as an involuntary roommate. We fought and fussed but became quite close in the course of that long eight months together. You will find residence life, maddening as it may be, can be a valuable part of your education. er The Edge Page 7 SO will not be offered to you on a platter complete with stock options and a nice pension. More probably your Uncle Lewis from Quesnel has an opening in his roofing busi- ness, which has nothing to do with either your Women’s Studies major or your Political Science minor. If you are will- ing to actually look for a job there are websites to help y fo) u 2 www.campusworklink.com is an excellent source of employment that focuses on UNBC graduates. www.workopolis.com gives you job listings from across the country and those are just two the many job related websites springing up like the grass in my backyard did before that last big dump of snow. For those of you returning to UNBC next year good for you, but remember graduation comes faster than you could ever imagine and then what are you going to do? Ring, Ring, Hi Uncle Lewis, Mom says you might be able to help me find a job? a a SS SS Parking at the University is an expensive proposition. If you don’t pay, you will earn a ticket. Don’t pay the ticket and you will find the Denver Boot on your wheel. But | do not object to this form of tax on vehicles if it encourages the use of public transport. Let those who have the luxury of private transport pay a dollar. The parking at CNC may be free, but you had better arrive with the robins to find one of those precious parking spaces. The University lacks a pub. Alas. But if you are attending school to drink beer, perhaps you would be better out on the job market right now where studies would not interrupt your drinking. If a University students wants a drink, he or she can bring alcohol onto campus and socialize in residence. Prince George’s College and University should not be thought to be in competition except in athletics. We can use each other's facilities and many people take courses at both institutions. In my opin- ion, half of the students in most institutions are drones who are there to pick up a piece of paper that will get them a drone’s job. For those who have the drive to learn, all that is needed is some decent guidance and a good library. | believe that both CNC and UNEC have the fac- ulty and libraries to provide a top-notch education. Go for it. Sincerely yours James Loughery _ Over The Edge welcomes all letters to the Editor and attempts to print every submission. Submissions may be withheld and printed at a later date due to spacial restrictions. Over The Edge reserves the right to edit for spelling, grammar, or content and withhold, in whole or in part any Letter to the Editor. Anonymous letters will not be printed in any way shape or form. Send submissions to: Over The Edge, 3333 University WEN Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9 or Email: over-the-edge @unbc.ca or | Drop by our office across from the Wintergarden.