Even though I still have one more year of college to go before I officially become an adult and enter the real world, I surely am no stranger to stress and I am no stranger to the pressure that we both put on ourselves and that society puts on us, (us being students) to either secure an internship or an insane job RIGHT after graduation. Patience is a virtue, my peeps. It is so hard not to get wrapped up in what everyone else is doing and compare it to your situation and these four submissions really speak to that. 

Confession: 

I think the pressure definitely depends on what you studied, like I know most other people who studied Journalism struggled to find jobs for at least a few months after graduation, whereas most of the engineering / finance bros I know had jobs lined up before second semester senior year. That also made the transition out of college weird, because I have some friends who graduated at the same time as me who moved across the country and are already making 6 figures, but I have some friends who are still living with their parents trying to hunt for jobs. 

I think the most important thing is to just remember that no matter what, any one person’s journey is gonna be different from anyone else’s, for a number of reasons. So, while it might be easier said than done, the best advice I could give to graduating seniors is to chart your own course and don’t compare your experience to other people’s. 

My thoughts: 

This is something that I talk about all the time with my friends who are also studying some sort of communication. It seems like the business school kids have their entire lives planned out and squared away (or at least, according to Linkedin they do) meanwhile us COM kids are struggling to even get an email response! I’m being dramatic, we get email responses, sometimes. And I’m not saying that studying COM means you won’t get an internship which then means you won’t get a real job. No no no. But it seems like when you study things like finance or accounting, those jobs come earlier which makes it seem like all the rest of us are far, far behind or like we are doing something wrong. Like this person said, you cannot compare your journey to someone else’s, ESPECIALLY when they are in a completely different school than you are. 

Also side-note, there is nothing wrong with living with your parents after college for a little bit until you figure out your next move. I feel like there is so much pressure to move to the city just like everyone else from your high school and go and start your 9 to 5 life but guess what, that isn’t how it NEEDS to be! Take your sweet, sweet time living it up at home and move out when the time is right. 

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Confession: 

I think you hear it all the time: don’t compare yourself to others - especially on social media. But doing my senior year of college online was especially hard because I felt social media was the only way I could keep up with my friends and peers who were graduating as well. So tracking their successes on social media made me feel a little embarrassed of my own because it wasn’t as prestigious or “cool” as other people’s opportunities. Especially during the last month or two of senior year, when it felt like everyone I knew was writing the “I was hired here” posts. I didn’t have a job immediately lined up and I spent the last two months of my undergraduate experience stressing. I feel that the stress I put on myself robbed me of really experiencing the once in a lifetime experience of graduating undergrad and enjoying it.

My thoughts: 

Social media was hard enough pre-pandemic, but when COVID hit, like this person said, it became the sole way to keep in touch with people and see what everyone was up to (or really, not up to). This ties into the last confession above in relation to comparing yourself and your situation to others. Constantly scrolling and seeing your peers announcing that they have jobs at x, y and z is hard. I even experienced this with internships this past spring. Seeing people announce that they have an internship at a huge, big-name company was sometimes hard to swallow. A little jealousy would kick in and then you start questioning yourself and why so-and-so got the job and you didn’t. 

There is so much pressure put on graduating students that they need to immediately have their dream job right out of college or else it seems like the last four years were all for nothing. That is a bit drastic and no, your college education was not for nothing if you are waiting for a few months after graduation still trying to find a great job. You don’t want to settle just so you can say hey guess what, I have a job too guys! 

Don’t stress. I know that you will. I will too. But just, try not to. Okay?

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Confession: 

Here are my thoughts on post- grad...I am very much in the thick of it because I literally graduated 3 weeks ago, but it cannot be understated enough how real the post-grad funk is. It’s just crazy because what you don’t realize is that we’ve been going straight from school to more school for 22 years and then all of the sudden there’s no longer a clear path and everyone diverges and does their own thing. And in some ways, that’s awesome that we have this new freedom and ability to take our lives in any direction, but it also can be super paralyzing because it completely contrasts everything we have experienced up until this point. 

I think also the whole “college is the best four years of your life” mantra has been really troubling because it leads you to believe that everything will be downhill from here, that the best four years are over. Personally, I think that is such a bleak way to look at life. Yes, college was awesome in some respects. But it was its own chapter and what’s not to say you won’t find things you love going forward? As I navigate this period of transition I am trying to remind myself it’s okay to “mourn” of sorts the ending of college but also be open-minded about the future. It’s okay to not be okay during this time.

My thoughts: 

This is such an interesting perspective that I never thought about before, but boy is it true. We have literally been in a routine for at least 20 years straight of waking up, going to school, having homework, tests, etc. Now, all of a sudden that ends and we are thrown into the real world? You guys know I love a good routine, but how the heck is that supposed to work?! That is QUITE the change-up.

And if you know me, you know that I don’t really believe in the whole “college is the best four years of your life” thing. I have been ready to enter the real world since sophomore year of high school. With that being said, I am trying to take in the undergrad experience a little more and be more spontaneous and do more things before all of that is over and I am onto the next.

 I agree in the sense that post-grad is a period of time where you need to be extremely open-minded. And honestly, undergrad is a time to be extremely open-minded as well. Maybe you had this plan of where you would end up, who you would live with, what kind of job you would get. Maybe those all work out, but maybe they also don’t. That is the part that needs to be more accepted! Life would be way too easy if we got everything we wanted all the time. The expectation that we graduate college and become a successful, thriving millionaire adult walking down the streets of the city or wherever you end up, that’s just not realistic. 

Be gentle with yourself and your situation. Pat yourself on the back if you have a job or if you are going through the tireless application process. Pat yourself on the back if you managed to find an apartment or if you are back in your childhood home. Pat yourself on the back people! 

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Confession: 

I’m not the kind of person to follow the pack, but when I’m unsure of myself it’s easy to get lost in the noise and get anxious about if I’m doing enough things “right.” Sure there’s pressure to have a good job (or just a job lol), or get the right apartment out of college, but that’s all noise. I’ve personally chosen to take my time adjusting back into the “real world.” 

The pressure I feel now that I’m done is completely self imposed. Perhaps societal pressures are subconsciously embedded within me, but I don’t really worry much about following the traditional path. And thankfully I have a wonderful family and amazing friends who will still support me even though I’m not trying to become an investment banker, or a doctor, or a lawyer. 

My thoughts: 

I love the first sentence in this confession because it describes my freshman year of college so perfectly. I am also not the kind of person to follow the pack and just go with what everyone is doing, but I found myself doing that that year because I got caught up and “lost in the noise.” This person isn’t talking about freshman year of college, but let’s think about this next chapter as freshman year of adulthood.

Block out all of the noise that is the pressure to get a job, pressure to get an apartment, pressure to make money, pressure to find a significant other, whatever it is keeping you up at night, BLOCK. IT. OUT. 

If you take the time to think about where this pressure is coming from and why it exists, it most likely isn’t directly coming from you. Sure, you may feel like you want to accomplish those things, but it probably has to do with the fear and worry of what happens if you don’t. What will people think? Will I be behind? All of my friends are doing x and I’m not…is that bad?

JUST DO YOU!