When you look back on it all, it really does seem like college flies by. Four years feels like four minutes. One minute you are moving your stuff into your freshman year dorm and the next you are a second semester senior sending out job applications, getting ready to walk across the stage to receive a college diploma at college graduation. Soon the best four years of your life will be nothing but a collection of amazing memories and you will begin your life as a member of the real world. Some people have an easier time than others, accepting the fact that college is coming to an end. Some already have jobs lined up and others still don’t know what they want to do with their life—everyone handles their transition into the real world in their own way, but for those of you who are freaking out right now here are some tips on how to successfully survive your last semester of college:
1. Have fun.
The last semester of college can be stressful. Everyone is freaking out about what they are going to do after graduation, sending out job applications or figuring out what grad school they want to go to. It is important that you remember that you only have a few months left to be a college kid, so you need to make time to have some well-deserved fun. You have your entire life to sit at a desk working from 9-5 and only a few months left to stay out until 4 a.m. with all of your best friends—take advantage of this. Don’t waste the last semester of your college career so stressed out about the future that you are unable to enjoy the moment. Live in the now, because you will regret it if you don’t later.
2. Keep up with your school work.
That being said, it is also important to keep up with your schoolwork. Senioritis is a very real thing, but make sure that it doesn’t get so out of control that you are scrambling at the end of the semester to pass all of your classes. I am not suggesting that you slave in the library all semester, but going to class and keeping up with your assignments will make your life so much easier come finals week. Why screw up what you have worked so hard for the last four years in your final semester? Have fun, but don’t completely neglect your school work.
3. Realize that it is okay to not have it all figured out.
This is a major key to surviving second semester senior year. Yes, technically you are an adult now that you are graduating, but you are also only 22 years old. If you still aren’t 100 percent certain what you want to do with your life, the good news is that you are still allowed to change your mind. Try not to get too caught up in who has a job and who doesn’t. Have faith in yourself. You made it through four years of college. You are more than capable of landing a job, so, have a little faith and patience. It will all work out.
4. Take pictures.
Take as many pictures of you and your friends as you can. These will be nice to look back on after graduation when you are missing your friends and the place that you have made your home for the last four years. Document it all thoroughly, because grown up you will thank senior in college you for it later.
5. Cross the remaining items off of your bucket list.
Remember all of those things you and your friends have talked about doing for the last four years, but never did? Now is the time for you to cross the remaining items off of your bucket list. You only have a few months left to do it, so live it up. In a few months you won't be here anymore, so who cares if a couple of the items are embarrassing, it will be worth the story.
6. Spend quality time with your friends.
This is the most important way for anyone to survive their final semester of their collegiate year. The friends you make in college become your family. They are there for you every step of the way through some of the best/worst years of your life. They have seen you at your best and seen you at your lowest, but have loved you anyways. College would have been nothing without them, so make sure you are spending as much quality time with them as you possibly can these last couple of months. Soon you will be scattered across the country working your new jobs living in your very first apartment, and you will miss the days when they were just a room away. Don’t take these last few months together for granted.
7. Get Excited.
Graduating college is bitter sweet. You are sad to leave the friends and life you have made for yourself the past four years behind, but you are also excited to see what the future holds. College might be over, but the rest of your life is about to begin. Make sure that you are excited about all of the amazing things that your future holds for you! There are so many places for you to go and things for you to see. Try not to focus solely on the things that you will be leaving behind. You are about to set off on an entirely new adventure.
