Beyond the Great Divide: Alumni adjust to the ‘real world’ post-graduation

by Marissa Maier

Monday November 14, 2005

“As a freshman and sophomore, when my concentration was film, I was really scared about whether or not I would find a job in such an overcrowded field,” said senior Stephanie Diable. “At the time, I was always anxious about the loans that I was taking because I wondered if I would ever be able to pay them back.”

Diable is not alone in these anxious sentiments about the seemingly bleak job prospects for upcoming SLC graduates. Many SLC students, especially those with concentrations in the creative arts (the college’s strongest area) feel the same anxiety about finding a job after graduation. When these writers, actors, painters and other artists find themselves entering the job market, they soon discover that the number of artists able to support themselves solely on their art is slim. Even before graduation, many of these students are told the most recited joke of an SLC graduate: “Would you like fries with that?”

This was the line SLC graduate Karen Abraham, now a corporate lawyer, found herself reciting in the fall of 1990, her graduation year.

“My concentration was theater,” she said, “So when I graduated from Sarah Lawrence, I lived in New York [City] and was pursuing a career in acting, but I had to take a job as a waitress to support myself.”

After a while, many SLC graduates begin to feel the wear of trying zealously to pursue their concentrations as a profession.

“A few years after I graduated, I wasn’t having fun acting anymore. It just became too hard,” Abraham said. Many graduates find themselves going to graduate school in order to receive a degree that will translate into a pragmatic career. This turned into a law degree for Abraham.

“Law seemed to be the most practical degree I could get and I had been interested in law before,” she said. “So it was something that I found out I loved to do and still love to do today.”

Pamela D’Arc, a fellow SLC graduate, is working, like Abraham, in a field that wasn’t her concentration. D’Arc is the vice-president of a New York City-based real estate agency. Yet she has found ways to incorporate her concentration into her occupation.

“I had two concentrations at Sarah Lawrence, and one of them was theater,” D’Arc said. “A large part of my business is selling residential real estate but the other half of my business is working with the film industry. When a movie is being shot in the city, I find temporary housing for everyone from the lead actor to the make-up artist. So, I still feel connected to the theater and film world.”

SLC graduate J.J. Abrams ’98 is also connected to the film industry. He also had the fortune of being able to turn his concentration at SLC into his present vocation. As an SLC senior, Abrams and a friend worked together to create a film treatment, which later evolved into the film “Taking Care of Business.” Abram went on to co-create, produce and occasionally direct the TV series, “Felicity,” in the 1990s. In the past few years, Abrams has been an executive producer and creator of the ABC series, “Alias”(which he received an Emmy for) and “Lost.”

The majority of SLC graduates, however, are not currently working in the field of their concentration. Yet many stipulate that the time they spent at Sarah Lawrence was an invaluable experience.

“Sarah Lawrence allowed me to learn more about myself,” Abraham said. “It taught me how to critically think and argue and it helped me find my place in the world. It goes beyond just the academics. Sarah Lawrence shaped the person I am today and that was the really invaluable part of my education there.”

Diable, like Abraham, is optimistic about the time that she has spent at Sarah Lawrence, but she is planning on becoming a certified nurse instead of pursuing a career in film. She hopes to attend the NYU program for nurse certification next fall, and eventually to use this certification to work with humanitarian groups abroad.

“I am not scared anymore, like I was when my concentration was film,” Diable said. “I am confident when I take out loans now because I know that I will pay them back, because there are so many job opportunities for nurses.”