As my second year of college winds down to a close, I am now more than aware that I am closer to my entrance in the real world than ever before. However, as hard as I try to forget that ever-daunting fact, it is reemphasized on a daily basis.
My recent weeks have been filled with nonstop internship applications, house hunting, long practices, traveling for games, and the one day a week I get to finally do whatever I please… weirdly enough, maybe my life as a student-athlete has not only prepared me for life in the real world, but has basically had me living in it for the past year as well.
1. Inflexible Hours
While I’m not stuck in a cubicle 9-5 Monday through Friday, I am extremely consumed by classes and lacrosse. With practice from basically 10:30 to 2:00 PM everyday surrounded by classes in the morning and at night, I see myself struggling to plan and schedule everything I must do from the big stuff: internship interviews to the littlest: making dinner with my roommate.
2. The “Job” Search
I can certainly empathize with the right of passage most new graduates are going through—the search and application process for that first out of college job that rewards all the work and hours you’ve put in the past 4 years of your life. In the world we live in today, experience is everything… LITERALLY everything. You can barely get an interview for an internship without a decent amount of experience. Nothing is more frustrating then submitting 20+ applications and hearing back from only 3 after you meticulously wrote and rewrote your resume, hit your perfect GPA, and interned the previous summer early, just so you could have better options the following year.
3. House Hunting
Similar job search qualities reside within this daunting process as well. Just like employers wanting experience, renters in Fairfax for the most part refuse to allow cosigners. This response irks me especially. I am a full-time student and athlete, I barely have time to have a social life, how am I supposed to work and support myself to pay rent as well? My status as a college student-athlete unable to work is almost synonymous as an adult applying for a home with bad credit.
4. Living for the Weekend
Is it bad that I am actually looking forward to this aspect of the real world? The hectic schedule and responsibility of being in season during the spring takes a drastic toll on my social time and ability to go out at night without fearing being exhausted the next day at practice. Most professionals get Friday night through Sunday as a nice retreat from the work place. As an athlete in season, Monday is our one off day—which means SUNDAY, if we are back in town from traveling at a decent hour, is our one night to go out. This isn’t exactly fitting of the college experience but it is the reality for student-athletes.
5. Team Work and Responsibility
The most crucial aspect of student-athlete life that has served to prepare us all for the real world and makes us seem a part of it so soon is the team mentality and boss like qualities of a coach. As members of a team, we are constantly working as a group to better ourselves and solve problems whether they are on the field or off. The majority of questions I have been asked in interviews have been about ability to work in a group setting—this is a time where I am extremely grateful for my time as a Division I athlete working at such a high caliber. Also, the reality of being held accountable for classroom and on field actions by coaches year round. Just like you would report to a boss, we are disciplined in a way that fits within how our team wants to be represented.
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