Interview with Marist Alum Nicole Formisano

I interviewed Marist College ’22 alum Nicole Formisano and we discussed, among other things, post-graduate life, job searching, and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected our college careers and graduate plans.

The following transcription has been edited for length and clarity

This interview was completed via video call.

Contact information for Nicole

Monique Barrow: What was your major?

Nicole Formisano: I majored in English with a concentration in writing, and I majored in communications with a concentration in journalism.

Monique: Was there a reason why you pursued that major?

Nicole: Yeah, I did English because I always saw myself doing English. I feel a lot of people who became English majors have a similar story of like, “Oh, when I was little, I wanted to be a writer” or “I wanted to be an author.” So when I was little, I was like, “I'm gonna write a fantasy series, that’s going to be my thing.” And then, when I got older, it was, “I'm going to be an English teacher.” Then my senior year of high school, we were figuring out “Where we're going.” I realized that I couldn’t go to college with the mindset of, like, I'm going to college to end up back in high school as a teacher. So I need to focus on something else for the time being. So I was just an English major because that's always been what I loved, and the journalism part was because I took a cool class my sophomore year that made me want to pursue it. I had a Communications minor at the time, so I just put it up to a major so I could do more journalism stuff.

Monique: Do you remember what that class was called?

Nicole: Yes, it was called Media Bias with Dr. Kevin Lerner. It was an honors seminar and was so cool. I liked it a lot because it got into the philosophy of it, and I love philosophy, but I would never be able to get my parents to agree to a philosophy degree; it was hard enough getting them to agree to English. So I did the journalism part, but it was just so cool getting into the objectives of media bias and its workings.

Monique: It's interesting that you brought up philosophy because if you look at the link I provided on Question 4, Philosophy is one of the “worst” majors, along with English. So I was like, “OK. I guess in the traditional sense, yes.” However, at the same time, if you major in philosophy, you're supposed to have good ethics, so I don't understand how that's a bad trait. But it’s a whole point to get into, but what were your thoughts on the article and that entire list, especially English? Link

Nicole: So I did look through it. First of all, they're parameters for defining what is worst and best college majors strictly on the function of salary. No other consideration goes into these rankings except for salary. So if your only motivation is salary, you're not gonna be an English major anyway. If salary is the only thing you care about, you're going into IT, a trade school, business, or something else. So I feel that already it’s off base. Second of all, I believe the article said 76% of English majors would do it again and that they don't regret it, and neither do I. So even though I see people having jobs straight out of college, and it seems like they're succeeding, and it's awesome, sometimes it's easy to make some little comparisons, but I still don't regret the English major. I don't think I will ever cause the things I learned in that major are indispensable to me.

There's actually a Time article that came out a couple of weeks ago about how liberal arts has been slashed across the country because it used to be that people were going to college to genuinely learn. Now you're expected to go to college for a certain degree. And English departments across the country have been cut by two-thirds across the entire country, destroyed. Time was talking about how it's scary because liberal arts are the studies of humanities of us, our history, and how we got here. They said it's kind of scary to think that despite this generation earning the most degrees, we are actually the least educated in human history because so few of us are earning humanities degrees. So I feel like the article is off base because it only does it by defining salary. Honestly, with an English degree, you can get a good salary, too, if you go into grant writing, technical writing, marketing, and brand writing. So there’s some good money to be made there.

Monique: Yeah, I agree. Because like you were saying about, you know, the whole humanities part, it's like we're supposed to learn, and for me, that’s the main reason for college. We're supposed to learn we're not here to, like get a job. I mean, we are supposed to better understand ourselves and the world. I was reading some college, and I think in Virginia, I don't know, that took out like most of their liberal arts majors. I thought to myself, “Why?” I mean, I know why, but still, why? You know you need those classes to better understand the world and what you want, and hell, sometimes those classes are more interesting, and maybe that makes you want to change your major and everything like that.

Nicole: And have you ever read a STEM major’s writing? No shade, genuinely, no shade to STEM majors, but because it is at a level that it's like, Oh my God, you fully stopped learning how to write after like the 10th grade or something, you know? It's like, how are you going to, within your field, give a really slay presentation? How are you going to pitch something very well? How will you communicate with the other departments in your company and other branches of your company? You don't sound professional.

Monique: Yeah. No, no, no. I understand because that's also the other thing. I feel like a lot of people, obviously no offense to STEM majors, but like STEM majors, they get those hard skills, like, you know, those technical skills. For us English majors, we mainly get soft skills, the ones that are supposed to get the job, that many are really looking at because, like, you can’t teach hard skills. Or it's like hard to gain experience for them. So that’s why English, Philosophy, or Film & Television majors, which was also on the list, which D’Avion also did, we get those skills that are going to take us longer, you know? As we said, the article was mainly about salary. I understand because college is expensive; there’s just no going around it, so I know why it's important because you want to get the trade-off. But at the same time, you shouldn't be saying you're not gonna get anything out of it, you're going to get hired. That’s not true. You can get a pretty good salary from English; you have to work for it. I don't know what going to happen to the liberal arts and humanities around the country, but its not good.

Nicole: Yeah, it's scary.

Monique: I think you brought this up before, but I'm gonna ask. Did anybody question you pursuing a liberal arts degree? If so, why?

Nicole: Oh, absolutely. I got a lot of heat from my extended family, especially because I’m the oldest, and almost everyone is younger than me. They're a few exceptions here and there. I got like a lot of heat on both sides of my family, especially when they heard that I didn't want to be a teacher right away because they were like, and I'm sure you've probably heard this before with them thinking, “Oh, you're majoring in English, so you want to be a teacher?” When I was like, no, I wanna try other things, I might end up being a teacher because I like it but that's the only thing you can do with an English degree. So as soon as they heard that, it was like, “Oh, so you're going to be nothing.” I actually had a someone confront me once. It was at a relative's birthday, and they sat down next to me asked how I was doing, and I had some cool stuff going on. I had just finished an internship in Ireland like these things. But my sibling is a business major. So they said, “OK, how are you gonna feel when your sibling is making good money, and you have nothing?” I told them, “I'm not sure that's gonna be the case,” and they said, “Well, it's OK. You can always end up working for your father.”; my dad is in construction. So, it was intense. But yes, people definitely questioned it, but other people were very supportive because they knew me and they knew that this was the right choice for me.

Monique: Your relative acted like you were doing something bad. Like, that's what you want to do, so just let it go. Let it go, do what you want to do. / Did you take any internships or jobs during your college career? Were they related to what you wanted to pursue after college?

Nicole: Yeah, definitely. I first worked for Marist Ambassadors, and they had a blog, Foxtail, so I was editor-in-chief of the blog. But no one really knew or cared about the blog. So then it was a whole thing about how the boss kind of just up and left for the University of Florida, and no one ever told me and I was like, “Where's Brian? Hello, Brian. What am I doing with the blog?” So there’s radio silence, and I found that Oh Brian is in Florida and is TikTok famous for some reason.

Monique: Wait, Brian never emailed or called about what to do?!

Nicole: No, Brian never told me sh*t!

Monique: And they never found a replacement?

Nicole: Eventually, they just kind of moved some people around because they just really were not ready for him to go. So that was a whole thing, but I ended up not working with them anymore. But then, my sophomore year, that summer, it was still like peak COVID; I had a remote internship with Tiger Beat, where I wrote web content for them. Then, in my junior year in the summer, I had an internship with a local paper called Long Island Press, and I freelance for them now, so that was a good connection to be made. Then this summer, after my senior year, I went to Ireland for a couple of weeks and lived and worked in a poetry publishing bookstore.

Monique: Yeah, I saw your post that you were in Ireland. And were you just there for the month?

Nicole: Just for a couple of weeks. When I was a freshman I did a spring extension program where you travel for your spring break with Dr. Graham, and we visited that bookstore because that's the bookstore that publishes Dr. Graham's poetry. So then, afterward, Dr. Graham helped me get an internship with them; they happened to remember me. I lived with them, and I worked with them. I, like, would run the bookstore; I really loved it.

Monique: Ok, that's cool. Did you reach out to Career Center for assistance with internships or job opportunities? How did they assist if so?

Nicole: I didn't, and I should have. I think I might because I feel like that would be a very helpful resource. But I did not.

Monique: I've been reaching out. I don't have much on my resume, so they can only do so much.

Nicole: Before senior year, I was actually in contact with them, and they helped with my resume and stuff like that, making sure that everything was good; like, they helped me rework my resume. So that stuff was helpful.

Monique: Yeah, it's a good resource; they still work with alumni. They can still look at your cover letter and resume and assist you. You can make a virtual appointment if you can't get in person so that you can do that. I don’t know if that's going to change but for right now, it's virtual and everything so. / Did any professors assist you with post-graduate plans? You did mention Dr. Graham.

Nicole: Well, Dr. Graham helped me get that Ireland internship. So yes.

Monique: Was there any other professors?

Nicole: No, but I also didn't really ask.

Monique: What is your current job position?

Nicole: Right now, I'm a freelance journalist and a substitute teacher’s aide for a special needs-focused school district. So the freelance journalist stuff that's honestly nice, the assignments have been picking up, and so I have a few kinds of, more regular papers that send me things, and I write them, and I get paid.

Monique: Is it the substitute teacher more volunteering, or do you still kind of get paid?

Nicole: So that's a part-time gig. Because it's a substitute teacher's aide, I can go on to their software, and it'll say what school and for how long. A teacher is out, so you have to go in and cover for them, and then you can choose to accept the assignment. Right, so I have, like, my favorite schools to work for and those things, but it can be hard because sometimes the freelance stuff is last minute, so it that is a bit tricky to strike a balance. But at least it does like give me more freedom cause the freelance stuff is still my first priority, so this is so BOCES stuff is to get some extra money.

Monique: Ok, that's cool. If there was one thing you could change from your college career, what would it be and why?

Nicole: I'm thinking maybe because my freshman, I came in with a bunch of credits from high school, so like my freshman year, I took advantage of that and was like, OK, I'm not gonna take that full set of classes. So I wish I saved for my senior year. But that's not like an actual big thing.

Monique: Yeah, if you have nothing, that's fine.

Nicole: Yeah, I don't think I would change anything. I mean, obviously, in an ideal world, I wish I could have taken more classes outside of my interest range. I would have loved to take an art class; I would have loved to take like I did take music classes. I would have loved to take more music classes. I took a bunch of music classes, actually, so that's a lie. But I would have loved to try something new.

Monique: Yeah, same. Well, I took a fashion class. That was very cool, that was interesting. I can't remember what it's called, but that was good. / Do you have any advice for the class of 2023?

Nicole: My advice for them is that this is a good time to explore. Once you've graduated with all the people you're graduating with, there will be tons of different results, right? So you're gonna see some of your friends get super high-paying jobs right out of school, and some will get a job they hate. Some of your friends are gonna move back in with their parents, and they're gonna hate it, and others are going to move back in with their parents, and they're gonna be like, this was the best decision for me. Others are gonna move out, and they're gonna love it, and others gonna move out, and they're gonna move back in with their parents. Like all these things, right? And it's very easy to take where you're at and compare yourself to where someone else is at and be like, “Well, why? Why am I not succeeding in the way that they're succeeding?” But it's not a race, and the comparison game is never-ending. There's always gonna be people who seem to be doing much better than you, and it goes the other way too. You are developing your life right now. Focus on that. You're not competing with anyone. Remember that LinkedIn is a highlight reel, right? It can seem like everyone is succeeding except for you. They’re putting their best foot forward as employers are looking at this, you know. So my advice is to try not to play the comparison game too much and focus on your growth. Know that you're growing, and feel proud of that.

Monique: That's great advice. I don't like LinkedIn because I do exactly play the comparison game. I need to keep that in mind. / Do you have any job-seeking/freelancing tips to offer to the Class of 2023?

Nicole: Well, I feel like if you have had any internships, that's a good starting point. Even if they don't accept you as a freelancer, whomever your superior was, you can go to that person and ask, “Do you have any advice for me?” Like because they will, they are in the field, they can give practical advice. So I say for freelancing, it might be a good idea, depending on your specialization, to start local right? Start with local journalism because if there's one thing they're looking for, it's people who know the community, you know, so where you live, that's a great start. And maybe try to get a little outside your comfort zone of what you write about, but I'm not even sure if that's great advice, honestly so.

Monique: No, I think it is. Like if I just kept writing about video games like it, obviously, I’m pretty comfortable with it, but it's always good to get out of the comfort zone. Try to write something else so you can kind of show a different side.

Nicole: Also, if the Class of 2023 is reading this, I'm always available to answer any questions and offer advice if anyone wants to be like a freelancer and doesn't know where to start or like anything. I know I was so desperate for guidance and advice, so if anyone would ever have any questions or like just want me to look over a pitch or a cover letter, I'll do that for free. I don't care.

Monique: Has the COVID-19 pandemic changed your post-graduate plans in anyway?

Nicole: It hasn't changed my plans. I will say the one thing it probably affected me the most career-wise is that as someone who is in journalism and who started kind of in the midst of the pandemic, my first internships were in 2020 and 2021. Everything was remote, so any interview I was conducting was done fully remotely and so the in-person interviews now sometimes feel scary because I’m used to doing things over the phone, especially because when I talk, I stipulate a lot, I use my hands to try to almost to guide myself through my sentences. So yeah, I will say the main thing it changed for me was getting really comfortable with digital correspondence, which can be a good thing, you know, how to do that, but the in-person interviewing skills were delayed. But it didn't change anything about my plans.

Monique: So how the post-graduate life like?

Nicole: Yeah, it's honestly; I know life is big, so it will have good and bad parts. I don't want to scare anyone off by being like, it's so hard, you know. But I also don't want it to be like a highlights reel, right where I'm here and I'm like, “I'm having the easiest time. I'm slaying every day,” so like everyone else feels bad when they're like, "Oh, it's been a little harder for me.” So I'd say in that way, it's similar to college, right, where there are going to be some things that you love about it and you're thriving in and other parts of it where you're like, OK, this is really difficult for me right now. So I say for post-grad life, I guess it's more about feeling like an adult that is a mixed bag because sometimes that can be really scary being like an “adult,” and other times it can be really exciting because you're “This is my life” and you get to do what you want with it, so I guess I'd say that like it's the potential, you know potential can be like a heavy burden of, like, I have to live up to my potential, or it can be cool and exciting. And you're like, wow, there's so much that there I have so much time, there's so much that I can do, you know? So yeah, I'd say overall it's good but don't feel bad if you trip every once in a while, you'll get back up, and it'll be OK.

Monique: Do you still get nightmares about homework?

Nicole: Oh my God, It's so funny you say that. I did have a nightmare like the other week where I found out I was in this class that I didn't realize I was enrolled in and I was failing because I had never done any of the homework, assignments, or tests. When I woke up, I was like, “Thank Jesus.”

Monique: I know. I feel like I gotta do homework, and I'm like, "No, you graduated." I'm like, "Is this how it's going to be?" It's just so engraved in my brain. / Where you do see yourself in a year from now?

Nicole: I would like to be having a full-time position. Right now, I work on a contract or per diem basis, like a per day. So I would like to be someone's full-time employee.

Monique: Ok. And still within the Writing & Editing field?

Nicole: I would still like to have it within the writing field. Whether this means I'm a reporter, or I write features, opinions, or food and drink. So whether it's general or specialized, I’d be interested in both.

Monique: Would you consider coming back for your master's or more college work?

Nicole: Oh yeah, I wanna get a terminal degree in my field. I would love to in the future get like a Ph.D.; that is not attainable for me right now. The master’s I know I want and have to get. The issue is which masters because I'm interested in right now, either journalism, teaching, or library sciences; those would all require very different master’s degrees, and that's a very expensive decision to make. I don't want to make it until I'm sure. Also, if I could see if a job I get would support me financially for a master’s, that would also be cool, but I absolutely see myself returning to school.

Monique: Oh, here's one that I saw in the news. Many have said that the job market was great and it should be easy to find a job. Do you agree, or have you found it difficult?

Nicole: It's really funny because, you know, they're saying how great the job market is, but it's like everyone is looking. And, like, I'm looking at these “entry-level jobs” on LinkedIn, and they're like, cool, we require four to six years of experience. So I'm like, interesting. So I should have been doing this when I was like a junior in high school?

Monique: That's what I'm saying!

Nicole: Of course, people who are already in the industry and have been working for a little while will get those jobs. Actually, I had interviewed recently for a reporter position, and it seemed like I was going to get it. They loved my article and all these different things, but then they ended up going with a candidate who had like senior editor experience. So that person will be able to take over one of the papers fully.

Monique: For entry-level?!

Nicole: It was a whole thing. Honestly, that's on them; they were really weird. So yeah, because it's such a great job market, everyone's looking, so you might find many positions open, but those positions are competitive. Also, I don't know where they're getting like, “Oh, it’s such a great job market” from because everyone's kind of preparing for a recession. So many people are being laid off, and things are being moved around, and they've put like it was a great job market a while ago, but at the moment, people are scared.

Monique: Yeah, I remember when we graduated, it was like, oh, it's looking great, and now they're saying for 2023, it's not looking great cause of the layoffs and because there may or may not be a recession. Even if the job search isn’t that difficult, I'm still struggling, and the entry-level positions kill me. They expect me to have three to five years of experience. From what?! Like when? I just graduated! You know that the past three years have been difficult for us all. Where are we supposed to get this experience? Like you have to work with us. Every time I find such a good position, I could qualify for it, and it's we need three to five years.

Nicole: You should still apply.

Monique: I do because I’m at a point where you’re either going to take me or not.

Nicole: But I feel like that's personally so frustrating when I see a position where it's like, I know I would do great here, I know that I have what you guys are looking for, so then it can be frustrating when they want someone with like who has ten years in the industry. So it’s like, OK, give me a chance.

Monique: Especially just for like skills you can teach me. I understand you don't want to spend time teaching them to me, it would be easy if I knew it, but I really feel you can spend a couple of weeks just teaching me this, you know. So yeah, I don't have any more questions for you. Thank you for your time!