It’s that time again – back to school! I know a lot of people who are heading back for their last (or next-to-last) year of college. Today, I have some advice for all you, based on what I did and what I wish I did.
– Make a list of everything that you want to do in your college town or at your college so that you don’t miss out on something important to you.
– Use some sort of calendar (even if it’s just Google Cal or iCal) to put in your deadlines for whatever your plans are for after college. This can be grad school application deadlines or just reminders to look for jobs or apply for jobs. Because …
– You won’t have anything to do next year if you don’t apply somewhere. You’re not going to have a job fall into your lap without looking and applying for one. And it may not be your dream job, so you may need to accept that you should apply for a job that doesn’t have a six-figure salary or one that isn’t exactly what you envisioned doing immediately out of college.
– On the other hand, if you want to take a year off to figure out what it is you want to do with your life, that’s perfectly fine, too! But just be aware that if you do know that you might want to get a job or go to school, nothing will happen if you don’t make it happen. A lot of schools will let you defer graduate school if you are on the fence about going to grad school immediately after undergrad.
– What does your college have that you can’t get or do elsewhere? Find out what opportunities they have – free exercise classes, discount tickets to concerts, free shows, etc.
– Lots of schools have sports teams, performance groups, charity organizations, and more. Make sure that you’ve gone to at least one. You never know what you’re going to enjoy the most.
– Get involved with something new on campus. Again, you never know what you’re going to enjoy the most.
– When looking for plans for after graduation (whatever they are), think about what you absolutely need. Let’s say you need to make an income, you need to live within the same state as your family, and your degree is in marketing, so you basically need to work in that field. Now that you know that, try not to worry so much about the other things.
Anyone have any other tips do you have for incoming college seniors?
Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
My advice about senior year is not to worry more than what's necessary. It's sort of funny, because I didn't realize my last semester actually was my last semester (I took an entire year off and somehow still managed to graduate on time…).
I also tried to figure out how much money I would have to make to be able to make it on my own. I think that's a REALLY important thing to know when job hunting…