This Is The Post-College Unknown
Life post-college can take awhile to figure out.
After spending 4 years as an undergraduate, it’s generally expected that you form some idea of what you want to do afterwards. You’ve taken your required classes to prepare you for the career path you’re interested in, and you’ve been surrounded by fellow students discussing their plans.
The Post-College Unknown
Graduate school or no more school? Do you either have the want to continue pursuing your line of study for all the supposed benefits (high salary, more job opportunities, etc.), or do you step out into the “real world” and see what you can make of yourself with only your bachelors degree stuffed in your back pocket?
But, what if you have no clue what to do? You want to keep going, but you’re entirely burnt out from the college lifestyle. You have high aspirations for your future, but you don’t want to keep having the pressure of maintaining your GPA sitting on your shoulders. It’s exhausting to even think about.
Everyone Else
At this point in your life, it’s also hard to tune out the rest of the world and try to decide what you want to do. Being surrounded by students that continuously talk about where they want to go after graduation can make you feel lazy if you don’t really want to go the same route as them. Their conversations make it seem like their decisions will produce a more successful outcome. Being a motivated person, you can’t help but start to consider those paths for yourself.
And, of course, it’s horrible to think about the costs of college. Is it really worth it to fork out a bunch of money to take the pre-requisites you forgot to take during undergrad? Is it better to get a job first so you can save up, or should you go straight to school and risk falling into debt?
Do What You Want To Do
Many questions like this cloud your mind as you’re trying to finish up your degree. You’re reaching a finish line only to step right into another pool of uncertainty, and it’s starting to feel exactly like your senior year of high school.
The only real solution to this moment of uncertainty is to sit down, actually think about what YOU want to do, and do it. If you don’t know whether you want to continue your studies, don’t. If you just feel like you want to because it seems like the right thing to do, then perhaps reconsider. If you want to travel the world with 5 dollars in your pocket, GO FOR IT!
The reality is that some careers require higher education, but that doesn’t mean you have to jump full force into chasing that career right now especially if you really don’t know how you want to spend your time or money. It may hurt to think about having to go back to school, but it’ll also hurt to reach the end of your grad-school journey only to find that you have no interest in using this expensive degree at all.
So while this may just be a pep-talk for yours truly from yours truly, for those of you in the same boat as me, stop stressing so much. Get a grip on what you want to do, or welcome in some time to figure it out.
And remember, school isn’t going anywhere. You can go back.
As for your years of being young and clueless, there’s a time limit on that.
