About the Program
One of the primary purposes of a college education is to equip students with the requisite skills for careers in the field in which they are majoring. However, in many disciplines – including Linguistics – students may find their major extremely interesting and value the knowledge they acquire from it, but they often do not know what it is required to translate the skills they gain in college into a career that they both enjoy and is related to their major. As a result, many students end up trying to figure out what to do with their lives after they graduate, often switching careers several times before choosing a job that has little to do with their major.
The Supporting Linguistics UnderGraduates (SLUG) Career Mentorship program aims to guide undergraduate Linguistics (including Language Studies) majors at UC Santa Cruz through the difficult process of (1) choosing a career path and (2) being ready/qualified to take the next step toward that career upon graduation. The program is designed to aid undergraduate Linguistics majors at UCSC in obtaining knowledge about, qualifications for, and confidence in pursuing the linguistics-related career they are interested in. The vision of the program is that every linguistics major that graduates from UC Santa Cruz will know what career they want to pursue when they graduate and have the required skillset to pursue it.
How it works
Undergraduates interested in the SLUG career mentorship program are paired with a Graduate student mentor who has received training in the qualifications, skillsets, and main aspects of different careers that fit well with a major in linguistics. Mentors and mentees will have one-on-one meetings at least once a month during the school year until the undergraduate student graduates or leaves the SLUG Mentorship Program. In initial meetings, the mentor and mentee may discuss the different career options that are a good fit for Linguistics majors, as well as the potential benefits/downsides to each one. Discussions in later meetings might focus on how to obtain the requisite skills for the career an undergraduate chooses to pursue, developing concrete plans to obtain those skills, and/or guidance on how to navigate hurdles in the process of actualizing the plan. If you are an undergraduate Linguistics or Language Studies major at UC Santa Cruz interested in participating in the program, email me or Emily Knick (eknick@ucsc.edu) to discuss the steps involved.
Career Quiz for Linguists
The Linguistics Career Quiz is under construction. Once ready, it will be available below. Please check back soon!