Ppportunism

There have been times in my life where I have acted opportunistically and other times where I’ve chosen to not act opportunistically. While I tend to act opportunistically with a lot of the small things in my life that could be considered unethical, such as not cleaning out the dishwasher and then going out knowing someone will see it and do it instead, with some of the bigger things in life it’s harder to tell.

An example for me is when I was deciding on what college to go to my junior year. Originally I wanted to major in computer science, but I didn’t get into the computer science major at University of Illinois. I did get into computer science majors at all other schools I applied to, but they were smaller schools. So I had to make a choice to take a risk and try to get into the major later at Illinois or if I wanted to go for the sure thing at a small college. What it came down to for me was did I want the small school or did I want a degree from a university with more prestige. In my case I thought it was more opportunistic for me to go to a bigger school and see how it pans out, and I decide not to even do computer science. Another reason why is that my dad went here back when he was going to college and I felt like because I did get into such a good university that my dad might be hurt that I ended up not going here and I think I would feel a little guilty if I ended up not going to school here.

Another time one of my good friends was upset over something that happened to her but it was at the same time that I was busy with a lot of family and school work. So while I did try to be there for her I still feel like I acted a bit unethical by focusing too much things that were going on in my life and I should have given her more of my time and the time I did give her I should have been more present in our conversations instead of thinking ahead on all the stuff that I needed to deal with.

One example of someone that didn’t act opportunistically in my opinion that I can think of happened over the summer. My sister, who was a theater major in college, had to choose between an unpaid internship at a company that holds auditions and recruitment for a wide variety of televisions shows or a paid job as the person directing an improve camp for teens at a small theater for the summer. She ended up choosing to go for the paid job over the unpaid internship. I think the main factor she used to decide this was the fact that both she and our parents thought she needed the money. With this choice I’m not sure if she acted opportunistically because I would personal go for the unpaid internship because I think it would be better for networking and there is a chance to get a paid position even if its not paid at first. Also the unpaid internship was thought a bigger name company that I think would look better than a summer job at a small theater.