While earning a degree is the goal, college is supposed to be a fun time. There’s a saying that the college experience is what you make it out to be. Believe me, college can be fun and exciting. You have opportunities to get involved in organizations or in the community, make new friends and find your passion.
However, no one quite prepares you for what life is like after college or even during your last semester or two. Your last year is a stressful time.
As someone who is graduating in a few semesters, I’m scared and stressed, especially as someone who changed their major kind of late into their college experience.
Originally, I was a middle level teaching and learning major with an emphasis in history and a minor in English. I have always wanted to teach since I was young, and I thought that teaching was just something I was meant to do.
However, my freshman year I got an internship teaching a STEM program on Saturday mornings. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the internship and students, but having to yell at and discipline children was hard for me.
I thought “I would feel like such a jerk for yelling at them.” The internship taught me that I, in fact, did not want to teach. At least not middle school.
Then I was in the stage of knowing I wanted to change my major, but I didn’t yet know what I wanted to change my major to.
This stage was right around the time I joined and began writing for the Northern Star. I loved writing, but I didn’t want to major in journalism.
That’s when I decided to switch my major to English, going down the writing track with minors in history and political science. Even though I felt like I was guaranteed a career with teaching, I knew I had to switch my major for my well being.
However, switching my major scared me, and still scares me. I constantly wonder “did I make the right decision?” With writing, I’m not guaranteed a career, whereas with teaching, I felt in a way that I was almost guaranteed a career, because the world could always use more teachers.
With artificial intelligence taking over the world, I am even more afraid. I constantly wonder “are employers actually looking for writers when AI can just do the job of a writer?”
As someone who is graduating either next fall or next spring semester, I’m scared and stressed. I have to figure out what I want to do with my life. Do I want to go to grad school? Do I want to work right after I graduate? If I decide to go to grad school, where do I want to go?
These are things I have to start thinking about. If I decide to go to grad school I have to start figuring out where because applications have specific deadlines, and if I graduate in the fall semester, most grad programs start in the fall instead of spring, so that’s something else I have to consider.
Even if I decide not to go to grad school, I have to start thinking about what kind of job I want.
As a full time college student taking the maximum amount of credits, along with having my job at the Northern Star and being involved in two other organizations, it’s a lot to deal with. I already have a lot on my plate, and having to think of what is going to happen in my life post-graduation is stressful.
It may be a simple message, but for students who are graduating this May or even soon-to-be college graduates who may not know what their plans are for after graduation, please know you’re not alone. It’s OK if you don’t have everything figured out yet.
This is something I need to work on and understand more instead of constantly worrying or having anxiety about what life is going to be like after I graduate. However, I’ve also learned to just go with the flow. There’s a place and a time for everything and everything has a purpose and in time, I’ll figure out my life post-graduation.
