autoethnography analysis

As I compare the secondary research I’ve conducted to my primary research from family interviews, there’s a lot to be analyzed. I’ve only interviewed my youngest sister so far, who is currently a senior at University of Oregon. I’m still looking forward to interviewing my father, who is an orthodontist who is currently not working due to governmental restrictions, and my sister Brooke, who is six months pregnant. 

I’ve been looking at an interesting Forbes article that talks about how college students, specifically graduating seniors are affected by the widespread closure of college campuses. My interview with Rain, my youngest sister, is driven by this idea of having an unexpected, alternative ending to her college career, one in which she describes to be “not preferable”. She states that she’s “disappointed, with nothing she can do about it”. These feelings of disappointment and feelings of hopelessness seem to be very common for all students, but they definitely hit harder for students like my sister who have reached the pinnacle of their academics, only for it to end abruptly. Our interview conducted was a lot like the ones shown in the Forbes article. One student stated, “it’s like reading nine chapters of a book, and then having someone tell you how it ended” (Forbes). I asked my sister what she thought of the quote, and she felt that she related to it. Because it’s an autoethnography, I’m also talking about my own experiences in college and how I was sent home from Chapman. I feel sympathy for my sister and all of this year’s graduating class, yet I don’t think I could ever truly understand what they’re going through. Rain’s interview is very similar to articles explaining feelings about this year’s graduating class because all of them share the commonality of this disappointment. From the beginning, I believed that my sister would have a clear stance on the topic that was predictable, but I still find her insight valuable because it’s very different from my experience. Although being away from campus is tough, I love being home all the time because I’m a little bit of a homebody, and I have next year to look forward to. Rain has to stay home with our parents who are bothering her about finding a job once this quarantine is over. 

So, what does it all mean? I believe my interview with Rain shows that college kids, specifically college seniors, are all greatly affected by being away from campus, but in different ways. For my sister’s class, graduating college is stressful enough. My sister had no idea what she was going to do after she was done with school, and now this quarantine has only added another layer of stress and disappointment. A specific question that came up for me that I’d like to dive into is “how do you think COVID-19 is going to affect jobs for kids coming out of college?”. I think it would be very interesting to see if the economy shifts enough to where Rain might pursue something because of the altered economy due to Corona. 

Thanks for tuning in for my last blog post!