Eeek, I graduate college this Sunday. Where did those four years go? I’d be lying if I said I was ready to graduate because honestly, I’m definitely not. While I wish I could stay forever, I know that all good thing have to come to an end. That being said, here are some things I think every post-graduate should know:
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1. Loan Payments
Ah yes, student loans. You remember those? Well even if you don’t, wherever you loaned money from isn’t forgetting any time soon. Make sure you know when you need to start paying back your loans, how much your monthly loan payment is, and if there’s a way you could pay off some of that interest right off the bat. To those of you lucky enough to not have any student loans, pray for the rest of us.
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2. Resume & Cover Letter
You probably already have a resume and cover letter by now, but if you don’t, there’s no time like the present to make one. Before you graduate, make sure to stop by your college’s Career Center. They have a lot of resources and are there to help in any way they can even if you’re a post-graduate. If you already have your resume and a cover letter template, time to update it! You want to be ready to apply for that dream job as soon as you see it.
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3. Alumni Status
Congrats, you’re officially an alum! Check with your school to see what kind of perks and events your local alumni group puts on. I know ours just started a book club and there’s alumni weekend coming up in June! One piece of advice about post-graduate life that I recently got from an advisor was that my friends and I should make the commitment to always go to alumni weekend. The reasoning behind that wasn’t just so we could show our school spirit and donate money, but it was since after graduation you might not live near your friends and life gets busy as you get older. If you all commit to going to alumni weekend every year, at least you know one time a year where you can all be together. You’ll definitely be catching me at alumni weekend and some other events too. Pilots till I die.
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4. It’s Okay to Not Know
Raise your hand if you already have a job lined up come graduation day. That’s awesome! For the rest of us, don’t fret. It’s totally fine that we don’t know what exactly the future has in store for us. There’s not some rule that we need to have our post-graduate life planned by the time we walk across the stage. It’s not like there’s a post-grad plan paper that we need to turn in to graduate. Could you imagine if that was a thing though? No thanks! Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that a lot of us post-grads are in the same boat. That being the unknown future boat, but eventually, we’ll find our lighthouse to guide us to where we’re supposed to be. Whether that be a job, a travel opportunity, or maybe even some volunteering, who knows what the future has in store for us. It’s okay not to know, so just try to take a breath and enjoy the end of your college career.