Opportunism
'Opportunistic' means the taking of opportunities as and when they arise, regardless of planning or principle. As I grow older and older, I learned that there are sometimes whether you should be an opportunist or visionary. Usually I choose to be an opportunist when opportunity comes up to me. I think opportunity doesn't always come when I want and it might never come when I don't grab it. However, there were some moments that I didn't take opportunity even though I had a chance. To come to college and adjust to college life, there were visionary decisions I made.
It was a time to decide which college I should apply and which to attend among accepted colleges. I was still undecided which college I should apply as early decision or early action. I had to be careful and cautious because if you get accepted to college applied as early decision, you must attend that school no matter what. So if there is a college that I am desperate to attend, I should apply as early decision, but I didn't have any college that I was eager to go. I was still undecided what I want to study further for my career and that was an important factor in deciding college. So I applied for various universities and I even got an offer of scholarship from certain college. College that offered me scholarship needed me to respond back that I will attend that college with scholarship but I hesitated. Rather, I waited for another colleges to announce acceptance because that college was not the one that I really wanted to go. I could get scholarship and attend that college, but I wanted to go with a major of Statistics and there were still unannounced colleges which are known as having good statistics program. I gave up on my opportunity of getting scholarship, but I chose UIUC to attend because I felt like UIUC would give me better opportunity and various experiences.
There was another time that I didn't act opportunistically and let a chance slip by. Last semester, I started to think about my future career, so I looked for various RSO or interns that would help me. I had various interviews and finally got into the business consulting RSO. But I had one interview left which was interview for Career Development Program internship which is provided by GLT usa. This program provides hands-on job experience and conduct various practical projects to give professional experience to students. I always wanted to gain practical experience and I thought RSO has a limit to doing so. CDP was the perfect program that would develop me and teach me in various ways. So I joined CDP instead and I was able to learn business skills and experience joining in business projects.
I might have to catch the chance whenever it comes, but sometimes it is better to have patience and better things might come later. If I went to the school with scholarship and did not get a chance to have a better school program, I would have regret going to other schools. I also would not have a chance to join Career Development Program that made me to learn various business skills and got to know which career field I want to go and study further. Sometimes, if you can step back and look in broader perspective, unexpected chance will come to you and you might have a better future.
It was a time to decide which college I should apply and which to attend among accepted colleges. I was still undecided which college I should apply as early decision or early action. I had to be careful and cautious because if you get accepted to college applied as early decision, you must attend that school no matter what. So if there is a college that I am desperate to attend, I should apply as early decision, but I didn't have any college that I was eager to go. I was still undecided what I want to study further for my career and that was an important factor in deciding college. So I applied for various universities and I even got an offer of scholarship from certain college. College that offered me scholarship needed me to respond back that I will attend that college with scholarship but I hesitated. Rather, I waited for another colleges to announce acceptance because that college was not the one that I really wanted to go. I could get scholarship and attend that college, but I wanted to go with a major of Statistics and there were still unannounced colleges which are known as having good statistics program. I gave up on my opportunity of getting scholarship, but I chose UIUC to attend because I felt like UIUC would give me better opportunity and various experiences.
There was another time that I didn't act opportunistically and let a chance slip by. Last semester, I started to think about my future career, so I looked for various RSO or interns that would help me. I had various interviews and finally got into the business consulting RSO. But I had one interview left which was interview for Career Development Program internship which is provided by GLT usa. This program provides hands-on job experience and conduct various practical projects to give professional experience to students. I always wanted to gain practical experience and I thought RSO has a limit to doing so. CDP was the perfect program that would develop me and teach me in various ways. So I joined CDP instead and I was able to learn business skills and experience joining in business projects.
I might have to catch the chance whenever it comes, but sometimes it is better to have patience and better things might come later. If I went to the school with scholarship and did not get a chance to have a better school program, I would have regret going to other schools. I also would not have a chance to join Career Development Program that made me to learn various business skills and got to know which career field I want to go and study further. Sometimes, if you can step back and look in broader perspective, unexpected chance will come to you and you might have a better future.
It is said in management that you should always have a plan B - not your preferred choice but a second option in case the preferred choice doesn't come through. The examples you gave were about hearing from the plan B offers before hearing from the preferred choice. If they give you a time window in which to respond and you go to the end of that but then give your answer, hoping to hear from your preferred choice before then, I don't think of that as opportunism. That's the way markets always work.
ReplyDeleteNow if plan B for you is plan B for everyone else, and your preferred choice is their preferred choice too, then the plan B offers will come out early because they understand it will be hard to recruit people otherwise. In contrast, if plan B for you is somebody else's preferred choice, turning them down, even with a delay really doesn't do any harm. The market sorts itself out that way.
But since you focused on college choice, you might ask whether Test Prep for the ACT or SAT is a kind of opportunism. It's pretty common now. But that doesn't make it right.
Oh okay, I think I had a hard time understanding what opportunism is and relate to my experience. I now understand what opportunism is I will try to apply in my real-life experience!
Delete