It turns out that time really does fly while you’re having fun. If you’re anything like me, which in this case basically means a senior that has no idea what to do with life (I know I’m not the only one), you may be feeling the pressures of upcoming graduation and how to even begin to search for a real life, big kid job. The only thing setting me apart from some of my graduating class is that technically I’ll be graduating early. This has put me in the position of viewing fall semester as my last, instead of spring. The problem with this is that it’s giving me the illusion of extratime and a long list of excuses that has led to some serious procrastination. I mean, who wouldn’t want to procrastinate being a real adult as long as possible? So why now have I decided not to freak out? How am I possibly going to do that and what’s this grand plan I may have?
I don’t have one. Of course I’m going to freak out, of course I don’t really have a plan. I’ve just decided to not use this general freak out as an excuse anymore. I’ve spent the majority of my final semester at UMaine precisely how anyone would want to- I’ve had fun with my friends, I’m in easy classes, I don’t work a lot- I’ve had the last semester that any college student would want to have. The result? I’ve found myself in limbo. This limbo includes answering those dreaded questions we get all four years- what are we doing with our degree? Is grad school next? What do you want to do? Except these questions are now followed with evasive, semi-serious answers followed by an internal panicked thought of WTF AM I DOING??? While I still have yet to figure out what I’m doing with my life- I like to think no one knows this quite yett, I mean took Trump his entire life to figure out he wanted to run for president just to see if he could (too soon?). I at least have done a few things throughout the semester that are pointing me inwhat I hope is the right direction. So here are my few words of advice. Whether or not you take them is completely up to you, but if I were to do things again, I would do it this way…
1) Figure out a path. Any path. Pick a path.
Notice I didn’t say plan. I’ve given up on having any sort of plan in life because I’ve noticed that plans are generally made to be broken, whether or not it is intentional. Figure out a path or general direction to move in. This could be a job, this could be traveling, this could be grad school- it could seriously be anything. Just figure out where your heart is, where your education can take you, how you want to utilize the past four years of information, then move in that direction.
2) Start early.
When I say start early, ACTUALLY start early. I thought I did. I figured out what direction I wanted to move in, where I wanted to live, what kind of job I wanted to have, and basically my entire long-term goal within the first month of the semester. Additionally, I met with an advisor in the career center to go over how to begin looking for a job, what I should look for, asked all the good questions that one should ask. I tricked myself into thinking I had things under control, but I didn’t pursue and follow up as I should have. Starting early not only means doing all the things I mentioned prior, but following through with them to the next step.
3) Utilize your resources!!
This one makes me feel like one of the faculty that visits a 100-level class in DPC explaining how to use the Fogler research materials. Seriously though, use your resources! We have a career center, and in the career center are some seriously nice, intelligent individuals that have one job, and that is to help UMaine students succeed in following whatever path they choose after leaving UMaine. They help with resumes, cover letters, references, qualifications- all things that are necessary for most jobs, even entry level. If your path is leading to grad school, there’s picking a school, GRE’s, loans, etc. –the cool part is, the Career Center knows about all of this stuff, and wants to help any student that comes in with questions. A little advice never hurt.
4) “The next step”.
This is where I got caught in limbo. I convinced myself that since I had asked questions and created the illusion to myself and others that I was moving along my path with a plan, that I had one. The next step for me was going back to the career center, exploring jobs, writing them down- determining what I wanted and how to get it. The next step for me was mentally kicking myself into gear and just doing all the things I previously said. While I’m still in this process, I’ve felt some of the stress I had built up during limbo starting to go away.
Whether or not anything is taken away from my little rant, the important thing to remember is graduation is supposed to be a happy time. Yes, it is sad, but it’s also going to be a pretty awesome feeling holding a diploma I’ve worked 16 years to get to. The past four years have been awesome, but they are not real life. I’d like to think that real life (while it may have some drawbacks) is still pretty great. The biggest piece of advice I’ve received is to take things one step at a time- life is long and freaking out about how to function after graduation isn’t going to get you anywhere. Take a deep breath, figure a few things out, don’t make excuses, and enjoy your final semesters at UMaine!