Reflecting on a Year at 2U

Where were you a year ago today? 365 days. 8,760 hours. 525,600 minutes. It’s a lot of time and stories and memories and people. And yet, just like that - 12 months slip by us. Hours, days, weeks unaccounted for. It feels like when you come home from work and your partner or child asks you what you did that day and it’s hard to remember anything precisely significant.

And yet, those minutes, hours and days make for many significant moments. A year ago yesterday I began working at 2U, a company I had never heard of until six months before I started. As my one year work anniversary approached, I’ve been thinking about what it means to have been here a year. What has changed in my life? What’s the same? What will life look a year from now?

What has changed?

The biggest change for me, professionally, has been what my day-to-day work looks like. Through my work as a Career Services Specialist at 2U it’s been a joy to dive into the field of career services to gain a deeper understanding of best practices in hiring and what kinds of challenges applicants are facing. I love the chance to work 1:1 with students to help them improve their application materials and also explore how they can expand their networks to propel their job search and professional paths.

What’s the same?

A year in, and one thing remains the same: I love people. It’s been so much fun getting to know my colleagues at 2U - from Mark who’s also from Virginia Beach (pictured above!) to Nashelle who I met since we have the same commute to John who shares my love of Prince George’s County. Not to mention the amazing students I serve and my stellar Career Services teammates who make every day an opportunity to learn and grow. I am not exaggerating when I say one of the best parts of working at 2U are the people.

What will life look a year from now?

I want to recognize how good it feels to be present in my current role. I love my work, my co-workers and my company. As someone who spends all day, every day talking and thinking about careers - I know that it’s a unique trifecta so I want to be sure to appreciate and recognize how good that feels.

With that in mind, I know my life in a year is going to look a lot different than it does today. For one thing, by September 2019 I’ll be at the beginning of term 3 of my Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership through the University of Southern California, one of 2U’s partner programs. This in very large part thanks to 2U's generous tuition benefit that will cover the cost of tuition for the program. Cue my jaw dropping.

I’ll also be closely watching, and hopefully part of, 2U’s exponential growth - especially as we expand into international graduate programs in 2019 with University College London. As someone coming from a background in international development and education, I wasn’t sure how my profile would fit into 2U’s largely US-focused market. Little did I know that when I started in September 2018 that 2U was already poised to go global with their acquisition of GetSmarter, now known as 2U Cape Town, and international graduate program projections.

Even though numbers are compelling ways to measure time and its passage, I don’t evaluate my life in minutes, hours or days. Rather, I love being able to look back and think about how different experiences, people or places made me feel. 2U is a company where I get to make significant memories involving both people and places and for that I’m grateful. When I go home at night, I almost always have a story to share with my family that makes me proud to do what I do. And when I think about how I’ll feel a year from now, I’m filled with a sense of excitement.

Curious what kinds of roles 2U has? Check out the Careers Page to see for yourself!