By Gabriella Blanco
Graduation is the most fulfilling time for anyone in college, but it can be the most nerve-wracking.
If you’re like me, the last semester feels so different. There are still classes and the usual responsibilities to clog our schedules; and yet, there’s a weight on it now more than ever.
For me, I had a rocky first few years here at FIU.
I had no idea what I definitely wanted to do with my life. I changed my major twice, and I was away from home for the first time so this independence was overwhelming. I was in a whirlwind relationship that I’m now kicking myself for letting it consume so much time, and, believe it or not, I was dismissed from the University. Three times.
With all of that, you can imagine the way I felt when I saw that I was cleared for graduation. It felt like the “bad years” finally paid off.
So, why am I still nervous?
The last semester of college is the textbook definition of “crunch time:” you want to make sure you do all of your work on time, you review enough for tests, all the while staring and calculating your GPA to maybe see if you could graduate with honors either during the ceremony—and score a sweet looking chord—or after (and get “cum laude”, “magna cum laude”, etc. printed on your degree).
College is all about pressure. I just wish we were told how much that pressure quadruples during the last few months.
It’s tough for seniors to relish all of the fun college has been and squeeze in a few more last hoorahs when they’re walking on eggshells to make sure nothing goes wrong from now until the respective day they take the stage and shake hands with Rosenberg.
It’s an insane scramble that makes us look at what we’re doing now and wonder if our time at FIU really has prepared us well enough for the real world, since this campus is one of the most fast-paced environments I have ever seen.
Depending on what you’ve been doing over the last four to five years, I’m sure a job is the biggest thing on your mind between homework and asking for extra tickets for your graduation day.
The reality of it is that you may not find your big dream job fresh out of school, and that’s okay.
If anything, using the time after graduation to rest, letting the weight of everything you have strode for slide off, then calmly start looking around for volunteer opportunities, internships, and entry-level jobs at your own pace.
Plus, if you can’t do it alone, try reaching out to your advisor or the Career and Talent Development department in SASC 305 (WUC 255, if you go to the Biscayne Bay campus) for tips on how to make the best of your job hunt.
To me, the strenuous work of college has made me excited to go out into the real world and put all that I’ve learned to the test.
It won’t be easy, but life isn’t easy.
The post-grad life almost feels like we’re reverting back to the post-high school/college application time of our lives: uncertain, anxious, afraid and overwhelmed.
If you could have gone through that to get to where you are right now—with your cap and gown waiting to be worn at the end of the month and people already patting your back to say “congratulations—”you know you can do anything.
Photo retrieved by Flickr.
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