The career fair is coming to an end. Your pitch for a job was either a huge success or an epic waste of time, or maybe you decided to avoid the impending doom of picking a career completely, like I did. But realistically, my graduation clock is ticking and I’m psyching myself up for the anticipated awesomeness of post-graduation. Because, oh yeah, life goes on.
It took me a while to accept the phrase “I’m graduating.” I chose not to discuss it with friends, probably because I don’t want to believe it — I’m sentimental about endings. Spending half of my week interning in Washington now, I’m toeing the line between college life and the anticipated real world. I refuse to believe graduating implies a life of meaningless existence just because I can’t party like it’s 1999 anymore.
We must realize the college experience is a bubble: a safe place to grow, explore and change. It’s a time when we can still make dumb mistakes and (usually) get away with them. By the time you graduate, hopefully you’ve gained enough knowledge of life skills through experiences in the past four years to mature into the adulthood phase of life. If you haven’t done so yet, start thinking about it: Because whether we like it or not, we outgrow the institutional safety net of the college incubator.
By now, I’m digging the idea of graduation. It’s a mark of accomplishment and anticipated excitement that the fun won’t stop after college.
Considering life after college — and the blissful possibilities — is a good way to break out of the mid-semester doldrums. Earning a salary sounds like the best part of all. Unfortunately for those like me who think they can make a living traveling the world on a wad of cash, or are continuing to rack up debt in graduate school, this doesn’t apply now. But for those of you who are career-driven individuals, your salary can now finance your lavish hobbies, classy dates and social life. You can use your hard-earned salary to fund post-work happy hours that start at 5 p.m. Your salary will even cover paid vacation time to sit on a yacht, sunbathing in the Caribbean. At work, you can prank your cohorts (with discretion), just as you did to your college roommates. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to travel and eat steak dinners — all on the work tab. After college, video games will still exist, and maybe you’ll even have enough money to upgrade to a classier couch.
But post-college life does have its pitfalls. Bills to pay, early morning alarm clocks and — most annoyingly — the non-stop solicitations from organizations such as the alumni association, which think your bank account suddenly turns to gold upon leaving this university.
Putting it all in perspective, post-college life doesn’t sound that bad. You don’t peak in college, and if you think you did, then you have many self-pitying years ahead. You’ll break out of your shell, find a new niche and, if you’re savvy, make new friends. The learning continues, and life’s choices and opportunities open up. After all, for those who care, alcohol will still be there. In fact, it may even be free at the annual office Christmas party.
I’m midway through my final semester of college, and each day I inhale the essence of college life: Seven floors of library books, a bustling student union, chants at basketball games, the awning of McKeldin Mall trees and, of course, tons of learning. I look around realizing my college time has almost passed as I eagerly anticipate the end of my homework days.
Jennifer Schwarz is a senior environmental science and policy major. She can be reached at schwarz@umdbk.com.
