Making Choices

I'm applying for a US Census taker position for summer. It offers up to 40 hours a week, a flexible schedule, and experience with a government agency (which is perfect for a PoliSci major like me!), so I'm quite excited about the opportunity.

In career decisions and potential career opportunities, we all have to make critical decisions--where do I apply? What position do I take? Do I take Job A or Job B? Well, I had my first critical decision in a long time. Normally, I plan things out quite well, avoiding as much overlap in scheduling as possible. Unfortunately, this time it was out of my hands.

In order to apply, I have to take a basic competency test (think of a dumbed-down version of the SAT). This test has to be proctored and is only offered on very select dates. It came down to this coming Monday. And although it starts at 11:30am and is only supposed to last one hour, it could last up to two hours.

Ruh oh!

There's the problem. If the test takes two hours instead of one, I'll miss a volunteer presentation and class. I hate making critical decisions like this... but it had to be done. I have a professional responsibility to the presentation and an academic responsibility to the first day of a bi-term class.

Even still, I weighted the career test with greater importance, asked around for someone to cover the presentation, and emailed my professor that I might be late. Now I'm crossing my fingers and hoping everything goes as planned....a SHORT test and NO traffic so I can be everywhere I need to be when I need to be.