I did everything ‘right’ in college, but couldn’t get a job in my field after graduation. Now, I’m going back to school.

• However, after applying to over 100 entry-level jobs, I was having trouble finding a full-time paying job.

• Now, I have decided to switch to a different career path and go back to school for my master’s degree.

When I graduated with a degree in journalism three years ago, I expected to find a full-time, paying job in my field by now.

Instead, I spent most of my time busy working part-time and unpaid.

I often find myself running to my retail job in the morning, catching the train in the afternoon to pick up the kids in my nanny’s care, coming home for a quick meal, and finishing the day off with a few hours at my unpaid remote internship.

It’s not exactly how I imagined spending my 20s in New York, but here we are.

In college, I tried my best to prepare myself for the “real world”

When I was an undergrad in San Diego, I asked almost everyone about how to be successful after graduation.

Following the advice of professors and industry professionals, I did everything “right.”

I was on the dean’s list every semester, served on the board of student organizations, held multiple jobs, won an award for my thesis project, and even graduated with honors. At the time, I thought these accomplishments would make it easier to get my first full-time job.

However, when I started applying for full-time jobs, the only offers I got were for unpaid internships. I felt like a failure—like I worked too hard in college and ended up in a no-pay or minimum-wage job, struggling to make rent every month.

Plus, seeing my friends and LinkedIn contacts get full-time jobs and grad school offers only added fuel to the fire. I feel lonely.

So, after struggling for two years in San Diego, I decided to take the plunge and move to New York City to continue my job search. But unfortunately I’m still not having any luck.

But as I started networking more and sharing my experiences with my peers, I realized this was happening to a lot of other people, too.

It wasn’t just me who was struggling—I had entered a tough job market marked by fewer entry-level positions, hiring freezes, and uncertainty about new technologies like artificial intelligence.

Now, I’ve decided to pivot to a new career path – and go back to school

After years of vying for over 100 entry-level positions and working multiple jobs to avoid gaps in my resume, I finally stopped beating myself up.

Instead, I gravitate toward other things that make me happy, like pottery classes, yoga, and volunteer work. In fact, the more I became involved with local and national nonprofits, the more I discovered my passion for working in these areas.

Now, I am particularly interested in women’s health issues and decided to move into the public policy field. However, I knew that having a master’s degree in this field would make me a more competitive candidate.

So, even though I was fully committed to an undergraduate experience that would help me stand out in a competitive job market, I decided to take the plunge and go back to school again—this time abroad.

Fortunately, I was accepted into a prestigious school in France and received a scholarship that would cover a significant portion of my tuition.

Of course, there was no guarantee that I would easily find a job after completing my master’s program, and the idea of ​​going back to school was daunting. However, I am eager to continue building my network and learn more about career paths that interest me.

Read the original article on Business Insider