By Meg Lachman
College is a once and a lifetime experience, one that comes with excitement, friends, and long-lasting memories. But once you graduate college, you immediately enter into the real world and truly become a responsible adult, as you learn to navigate new experiences and responsibilities that come along with real adulthood.
Being in my senior year of college, I am beginning to realize that this year is in a sense the last time that school will ever be my job. For me, after I graduate I plan on continuing my education at a graduate school for my masters and PsyD in psychology, but my education will never be my main responsibility. I will have to get a full-time job, preferably one that helps me grow in the field of psychology, while I manage to go to school part-time. The thought of that is stressful in itself, and I have not even graduated yet.
So to all you seniors out there (and non-seniors), I know that the thought of what happens after I graduate can be dawning, but while you still have the time, make it a priority to start planning and researching your options. Whatever major you graduate with or whatever field you’re going into it is important to start right now, while you are still in college. Remember to take advantage of all the resources and opportunities that the school gives to you for life after graduating. It is going to take some time and effort, I mean, this is YOUR future, but by all means, do not let this intimidate you. With all the fear that may be going on in your mind, this is a new and exciting time in your life that will inevitably come soon enough. After you graduate, it all on yourself to apply everything you experienced and learned throughout your time in college as you begin the next step in your lives. Now is the time to start preparing, so whatever that means for you, sit down and spend time with yourself to examine what you really want for yourself and how to get there after you graduate. Your future really does begin NOW seniors!