The beginning of the year carries enough stress, but who would have thought fourth year would bring on…more. We’ve been told fourth year is the year to go all out, to take advantage of everything this school has to offer. But the lingering truth is hard to ignore, that all of our futures are just around the corner.
School started with the euphoria kicking in strongly, but then the conversations began to switch. All I now hear is career fair this, job resumes and all that, and then the panic kicks began to kick in. I shouldn’t be at Coupes, I should be applying to a job. Everything I do I think I’m passing up an opportunity; I feel like I’m failing to apply to some magical job that I have yet to stumble upon. But, the real question is….is all this stress worth it? Should I be panicking, or should I be enjoying what I actually have in front of me? All too easily we forget that we earned college. We worked hard in high school, we’ve slaved away at tests, problems sets, and papers for the past 3 years, and now this is our last chance to embrace the wonderful life of being an undergraduate. Time will come for us to face the real world. For us to have to answer to a boss, to a million emails, and to have more money than we know how to spend. But that time will come regardless of what we do today, and as long as your priorities are set straight…you will find a job.
You will eventually find something that you love to do, and you will stop comparing yourself to that kid that sits next to you at class. Some people have it figured out, some people don’t. It’s a fact of life that we all have to accept, and learn that the only person that matters is you. So, am I saying to completely go all out and forget about setting your future straight? No. I’m saying set some time aside to apply, send out an email, or go to a career fair. But do not let it consume your life, because in the end your job will be found, but you’ll realize that the precious time you lost in the meantime will never come back.