Aside from the usual tips having to do with first jobs, savings, and working hard, there seems to be something missing in the advice that people receive upon graduation. I could guess that the best steps to living life after graduation would be to get a decent first job, start investing in retirement and the future, and whatever else is usually easier said than done.

If you live anything other than an average life, these "tips" fall flat on your ears or may not even be entirely applicable. With all that aside, what remains is the core of what motivated you to get an education and what helped you to fulfill it.

Thus, my advice is: Being a student should not stop at the graduation ceremony

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
— Mahatma Gandhi

You may no longer have to write essays or spend long nights studying, but learning should not stop after you've donned your cap and are left with that piece of paper to show for all the work you've done.

As we come to realize more and more in our early adult years, learning does not only come from books, and it never actually stops. That is just a fact of living and gaining new experiences. However, what I mean by "being a student" is always being willing to learn, particularly from other people and from new sources of information. It can be easy to stop reading or stop actively trying to learn once you are no longer required to do it, but now you have more time and brain energy to spare, to use to learn the things that you want to learn.

Since just before graduating, I started listening to podcasts and audiobooks on a near-constant basis. I've begun reading books about topics that interest me. I've picked up learning and reviewing German again. Occasionally, I'll learn how to draw anatomy. I also enjoy honing and expanding my writing skills by trying new activities. Even though I graduated in November, I still actively search for the next thing to learn for the sake of learning and knowing more about this crazy wonderful world than I did before.

Do you know the secret of the true scholar? In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him; and in that I am his pupil.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Aside from learning independently, it is also important to keep learning actively from other people. No matter who someone is, there is always something to learn from or about them that you couldn't have known otherwise. It's important to be receptive and respectful of other people because they likely know something you don't. No matter how much we may have learned during our college years, we should always be students of others. This is a trait of truly educated and successful people.

For some of those graduating, this is a literal statement. Some may go on to pursue their postgraduate degrees and will literally continue to be students. For me, one of the most worthwhile lessons I gained from my undergrad degree was to seek advice and knowledge from others.

The professors I put down for my references when applying to grad school were those I probably talked to the most. These connections will continue into your postgraduate degree, and even though you may be in an even higher level of education, you will be there to learn - from books and from people.

One last piece of advice:

Your education is not just for you.

Higher education may get you into better careers, gain you more connections, and generally increase your knowledge, but knowledge is better when it is shared with someone else. Consider being a mentor to someone else wanting to pursue your degree or career field. Help your younger siblings or friends as they pursue their education. Encourage someone who hasn't gone to college yet that it's not too late to start.

Essentially, be the sort of person you needed when you were in high school and in college. Your hard-earned education can make the world just a little brighter for someone else, and that makes all the work worth it.

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson