Moving Back Home from College- Carolyn Cross ’19
By senior year of college, those of us that live on campus may take the independence of such an arrangement for granted. Going to bed and waking up whenever we choose to, determining the cleanliness of our rooms, and deciding with whom to spend our time have all been up to us. Thus, when the plan is to move back home after graduation, it can seem a bit overwhelming and suffocating. The schedule that I have become accustomed to in college is not very conducive to living at home. There will definitely be an adjustment period in which I have to “fix” my sleep schedule in order not to disturb my parents, under whose roof I will be living. While I will miss some elements of my current living situation, there are also some benefits to moving back home. For one, I will not have to pay for laundry or food if I get hungry late at night. Also, while it would be exciting to move into an apartment or house with roommates right after graduation, living at home for a period of time after college can save a lot of money. Another positive way to look at the situation is that it’s a way to give back to my parents for being supportive of me throughout school, by taking some of the cooking and cleaning burden off of them. It may be nearly impossible to avoid comparing yourself to others in terms of post-grad plans, but this is a healthy reminder that we all move along in our journeys at different paces. We can be supportive and proud of our friend’s accomplishments while still maintaining our mental health and a positive outlook. Here are some strategies that I plan to employ so that I can continue the job search while living at home, both without getting burned out or having my mental health negatively affected. First, assigning yourself manageable daily tasks can help keep you on track. So instead of telling yourself, you are going to apply to twenty jobs one week, you could tell yourself you are going to apply to one job per day for a week and send out three networking emails. Also, allow yourself some time to do enjoyable things. For me, making day-trip plans to go visit friends will be integral to maintaining a healthy mindset. Remember to be patient with yourself and also persistent in your efforts. I wish everybody the best of luck in their post-graduation journeys!
5 Things College (In-directly) Taught Me- Kiely Goss
The last few years have been a series of ups and downs; however, my college experience has taught me a lot. Both inside and outside of the classroom I have grown up over the last few years.
1. Correlation DOES NOT mean causation: One of the first things I learned from being a psychology major is that you can’t read beyond the data. Even if you have a really strong feeling that a risk factor causes mental illness, you can not write that in your final paper unless the data proves a causal relationship. The lack of support for one scenario does not prove that the opposite is true.
2. Friends are the family you choose for yourself: Friends can appear at any instant, especially if you aren’t expecting it. Surviving the new college scene during your first-year can be hard, especially if it seems like everyone around you has ready-made friends. Once I realized that making friends in college is not the same as it was in kindergarten, I eventually found my group. Even though it took us until sophomore year to find each other, the cliché of being super close to your college friends may have some truth to it. When you’re living away from home for the first time, friends are the people that you can really on through thick and thin, but the main thing here is that friends are your choice. You can choose to maintain friendships or you can choose to end them. Don’t let anyone pressure you into something you can’t handle.
3. Roll with the punches: Even though it may not seem like it at the time every problem has a solution and the process of finding the solution may just well lead you to exactly where you are supposed to end up. Whether it may be creating a study group for your hardest course or finding the best combination of dining hall food, everything has a way of working itself out in the end “if not always in the way we expect.”* *Thanks for the wise words of advice J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, and Luna Lovegood.
4. Impress yourself, don’t put others thoughts ahead of your own: No matter how hard you try or how much effort you put into an assignment, internship or extracurricular, at the end of the day you are the only one who knows how hard you’ve worked and how far you’ve come. If you are proud of yourself that’s more than enough. While it is nice to receive recognition for your accomplishments you won’t win every award or receive only positive performance reviews – and you have to be okay with that.
5. Carve your own path: With the widespread use and reliance upon technology, it can easily feel as though you are missing out on what is going on. Social media should not be a judge in your court of self-understanding. Just because everyone’s doing something it doesn’t mean you have to as well.