mind map

With my mind maps, I focused on the problem of what might happen after my final year at Roger Williams.  I began by laying out all of the options I considered "viable", what I feel will be mostly likely to happen, and the things I hope will happen.  Chief among these things is the idea of traveling abroad; as such, nearly the entire right side of my mind map is devoted to this.  This might be facilitated in a number of ways; either through the Peace Corps, an internship that I hope to procure, or just travel itself.  The left side involves the more serious, business-minded aspects, taking gainful employment into consideration.  Past internships might lead to jobs after graduation; graduate studies would further broaden my horizon and open new doors for opportunity.  The initial layout was a good start for me, but ultimately did not succeed in realizing the possible interconnectivity of these things.

My second map took this variety of ideas and refined them, showing that these opportunities might not be mutually exclusive, but that one may lead to another and take me in an entirely different direction.  The "aha" moment came after I made this realization.  To visually portray this, I used a method which might not generally cross the minds of those creating a mind map: I drew lines that flowed from one opportunity to another.  I hoped to depict chronological order with these lines, but it requires close inspection to gather this.  Travel to Africa might be in the name of the Peace Corps; my involvement in the Peace Corps, however, is somewhat dependent on my acceptance to an internship program with the United Nations Environmental Programme in Nairobi Kenya.  Either way, though, I plan on going to Africa.  On business side, I am hopeful that my internship with Mercedes-Benz USA will yield a future job in marketing for that company.  This ties in with New York because MBUSA is located directly outside of the city.  Graduate school would take place after traveling, and probably after a few years of working.  My map shows the possibility of attending Pepperdine University's Graziado School of Business, which is located outside of Los Angeles.

Ultimately, I feel that my final map does an interesting job of depicting the problem I focused on, which is the organization of possibilities in my post-college life.