Vacation is literally taking a break from classes. But for college students, vacation is more than its literal meaning. Many college students make their plans about how they will spend their vacation. The online job search portal site ‘Saram-in’ gave a survey about the most idealistic vacation to 319 college students, and the results were as follows: backpacking on top with 33%, not wasting time in second(18%), internships in third(14%), and studying TOEIC & achieving certifications in fourth(10%). On the other hand, when surveyed about the expected reality of vacations, the results were as follows: going back and forth between home and the library(23%), doing nothing(19%), taking a part time job only(17%), and being a night owl(6%). Unlike the idealistic vacation, the reality that students expect seems to come from what they have done during past vacations. Between these contradictions, did our university’s students have an idealistic vacation?

  Our newspaper surveyed over 100 CBNU students. When asked what they did on their vacation, one out of every four students answered ‘taking a part time job’. The other replies were ‘studying’ at 24%, ‘having personal time’ at 21% and ‘traveling’ at 20%. The rest answered ‘outside activity’(5%), ‘volunteer activity’(3%), or ‘club activity’(2%).
  Most students who answered ‘taking a part time job’ said they took it to earn allowance or traveling money. Kim Jong-hwan(’11, Dept. of Economics) said, “I wanted to earn money to travel somewhere interesting or where I’ve never been.” Kim Hyeon-u(’15, Dept. of International Business) said, “I earned money to pay part of my tuition.”
  The second highest answer was ‘studying’. Most people said they studied English, and the rest said they studied for certificates, such as Korean history, computer, etc. Park In-hwan(’12, School of Electrical Engineering) said, “I don’t like English, but I studied OPIC to get a job,” and like him, lots of students said they studied English for employment.
  The answer ‘Having personal time’ includes playing computer games, working out, hanging out with friends, just playing, etc., and only a few students answered working out. Freshmen and sophomores usually answered it. Seo Jun-hui(’15, Dept. of Philosophy) said, “I can’t have my own free time during the semester, so I spend it during the vacation,” and Park Ye-rim(’15, Dept. of Architectural Engineering) said, “There are few chances to play during sophomore and junior year, and I don’t know what to study now as a freshman, so I played a lot.”       
  Most students who answered ‘traveling’ earned money from part time jobs, and they went traveling with their friends to make special memories and to have diverse experiences. Also, the students who answered ‘outside activity’, ‘volunteer activity’, or ‘club activity’ were mostly juniors and seniors.
  Our school’s career team manager, An Byeong-min(Headquarters of Employment Strategy & Support), said, “I hope our students’ activities were related to their careers,” and said, “Experiencing a part time job related with your career goal could be an important work experience for employment competition in the future. I hope our students will earnestly consider about what they want to do in their freshmen and sophomore years and set their career goals to spend vacation wisely.” Our school’s Headquarters of Employment Strategy & Support has career counseling for students and has diverse programs, such as field education, available for sophomores to seniors, but few students know about it. “Building a career that supports your future career goal is important, instead of obtaining outside activity information on the internet and doing it all by yourself,” he added.
  A university cannot just be a boot camp for employment competition. However, as it is a time of investment for your future, I hope you spend this semester and the next vacation joyfully and wisely.

By Min Tae-kwan
tk36@cbnu.ac.kr