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Life After College

Freakout!

Some of you are probably about to graduate — congratulations! Isn't it a great feeling? Or is it a terrifying, gut-wrenching, what-on-earth-am-I-going-to-do-with-the-rest-of-my-pitiful-life type feeling? That's what I thought.

I freaked out pretty hardcore during my senior year of college. It was not good times. Sometime around October, it dawned on me that I was almost done with school — that everything I had known up until then was coming to an end, and that in a few short months I was supposed to do something, to be somebody. Those expectations were too much for me, hence the freakout.

I began to realize that up until this point in my life, everything had been mapped out for me. When I was six, I started first grade; eventually I was a middle-schooler; from there, I attended high school. There was a bit of trepidation about starting college, but hey, it was more school and I was good at school.

But all of the sudden, as college graduation neared, this cycle of school and summer break was coming to an end. Now I had to make decisions about what to do and where to do it. About where to live and how to pay for said living. About health insurance and car payments. I felt wholly unprepared for this thing called life.

People were expecting things of me — lying on the couch and watching daytime soap operas wasn't going to cut it. And so, instead of getting to the task at hand and embracing the idea of becoming a responsible adult, the resentment began to build. Just who did people think they were, expecting me to work and pay for things?! I thought it was all pretty rude.

Unfortunately, people (and by "people" I mean, of course, "my parents") weren't all that sympathetic to my plight, so I rethought my bitterness. I began to think logically about my options, probably like you're doing right now (in between panic attacks). The good news is that I have obviously lived to tell about my post-college experience. And although I am no expert, I have a couple of tidbits that may or may not be useful to you.

The Weight of Options

The first thing I began to do once I accepted the miserable fate of adulthood was to weigh my options. Here's what I came up with, and it's probably similar to what you're thinking about:

Getting a Job: This is the option that most of our parents and grandparents naturally accepted once they graduated from either high school or college. There were no thoughts of "gap years" or even graduate school. You just got to work.

My concern with the idea of working right away was that I was a bit disillusioned with my major. I had spent four years learning how to be a journalist, and sometime late in my junior year, I realized that I didn't like journalism all that much. I was in a quandary.

But it was this realization about my major that also caused me to acknowledge something deeper. I had bought into our culture's idea that, in order to do something well, I had to be utterly and completely passionate about it. Many of us have come to believe that feeling fulfilled in our careers is of highest importance — worth more than the wages we earn or the family we'll be supporting in the near future.

Now, I think there's definitely some validity to the idea that we should enjoy what we do. If you don't enjoy your work, the hours drag by, day after day. But at the same time, work is just that — work. We need to recognize that there will be things about each job that we don't enjoy, and sometimes our responsibilities — rent, car payments, family — require us to work jobs we may not love. It's all part of growing up.

Also, I would encourage you to look at the variety of jobs available to you within your major. I had realized that I didn't enjoy newspaper writing, which was the majority of what I was taught at school. But I was able to take my basic journalistic skills and use them in other ways — like writing awesome, self-focused articles for TrueU.org. See how I made that work?

If your goal is to get a job right out of college, begin applying for them now. Work on your resume and go on interviews. It's scary at first, but it gets easier. Eventually you'll get a job and begin the adjustment to working life. And remember: Your first job doesn't have to be your last one — it very likely won't be, actually. So, work hard where you've been placed, and learn all you can. That first job will give you experience that qualifies you for your next one.

Graduate School: This was the option my dad was all about. "Just think!" he raved. "You could have your Master's degree by age 24!" I didn't listen to him, but sometimes I wish I had. It's a pretty good option, especially if the career you're hoping to have later in life requires an advanced degree. It makes sense to continue the momentum of school and push on for two more years.

If this is the option you're leaning toward, though, you need to practice discernment. Make sure that the debt of two more years of school won't overwhelm you. If you know your career will help you pay for those extra years of education later, then it's not as big of a concern. But if you're going to school to get an advanced degree in infant care for Pterodactyls, you may have trouble paying for that schooling later on (word on the street is that the Pterodactyl caretaker market is at an all-time low). Also, consider your future plans — if you're a woman, and your main goal in life is to be a wife and mother, the money you paid for your advanced degree may not be worth it, especially if you could learn many of the same things from reading good books.

One thing I would not encourage is going on for an advanced degree just because you don't have anything better to do. This is something I considered because I knew how to do the whole school thing — it was familiar and safe. But it wasn't the right reason to consider graduate school. It was just a way for me to delay adulthood and responsibility.

Taking a Year Off: In most cases, I say "boo" to this option. That's right, "boo." Again, many times it can be an excuse to delay adulthood and to live off of your parents for another year. Beside the fact that I think this can be a copout option, I also think that it has the potential to turn into more than a year. One day you'll look back at your life and realize that you never accomplished much more than collecting cat figurines. OK, perhaps I'm being a bit dramatic, but I do think it's important to be proactive after college.

One way to do that is to do what I did after graduation and attend the Focus on the Family Institute. Granted, it does mean (potentially, anyway) paying for another semester of school, which means not working — two things I just got done ranting against. But it's a wonderful program to attend, either during college or sometime soon thereafter. It equipped me with leadership skills, a strong worldview and a preparedness to face adulthood head on. It also opened the door for this job.

Following God's Will

Many of us stress about making the right choice because we want to be positive that we're following God's will for our lives. Unfortunately, He doesn't always let us know what His plans are and where, exactly, He would like us to go. But I wouldn't stress too much. As long as you're praying and seeking the Lord, you'll head in the right direction. Simply enough, God's primary will for each of us is to love Him and love those around us in whatever job or graduate school (or extra bedroom in our parents' house, heaven forbid) we find ourselves in.

C O F F E E  S H O P

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What are your plans after college?

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So whether you're freaking out or excited about life after graduation, I would encourage you to put things in perspective. Be realistic about the job you can obtain right out of school, and work hard to meet your goals. Embrace being an adult — it's really not that bad. You get to make your own choices, you earn more money than ever before, and you learn a lot about yourself.

Whatever you choose to do, I hope it works out in the end. And remember that God's got that whole sovereignty thing going for Him, and He won't lead you astray.