As a second semester senior at JMU, I can attest to the great amount of stress that presses on us come graduation season. Questions begin looming over our heads such as, “Will I be employed after I leave here?” or “Did I pick the right major?” We may have even more important inquiries like, “Is it acceptable to go to a bar in my sweatpants?” and “Why the heck is everyone already engaged?” Although it may seem like everything has to be in order the moment we walk across that stage, the hard, cold truth is this: it doesn’t. While some of our peers or even our best friends may already have jobs lined up, an apartment picked out in a new, exciting city and maybe even a ring on their finger, there are also those of us (like me) who aren’t as far advanced in the “adulting” process. A message for those of us whose main priority at the moment is to just finish the semester with a degree, IT’S OKAY. At the end of the day, we are ALL trying to figure it out because, truthfully, none of us actually know what the hell we’re doing until we get there, fall on our asses a few times, and finally figure out this whole post-grad/adulting thing. For some of us, the first job we land could be the dream job we’ve always been waiting for, while for others, it could be just the first stepping stone towards a long list of other opportunities yet to come. And even for those of us (again, like me), who have decided, hey, I don’t really want to do anything with my major, it’ll work out for us too. I promise. We’ve worked our butts off for the past four years and we deserve whatever good comes our way, and not to mention that having a degree means something to our future employers. In the meantime, the best we can all do is:
1. Keep pushing through in our classes. I know they seem like the last thing on our minds right now, but finishing off the semester on a strong note is still important.
2. Enjoy the little things that JMU has to offer (and that we’ll wish we hadn’t taken for granted while we were here). Example: The freaking quad. How beautiful is that thing?
3. Enjoy being an irresponsible college student for possibly the last time in our lives. When will we ever be able to live with all of our best friends in one town again? Or go to a dirty frat party? Or flash our student IDs to get into a bar for free?
4. Relax, and remember that although these past four years at JMU have been the best four years of our lives, the best is yet to come.