You hear about it in movies, TV shows, books, and even your older relatives – senior year of college is the best year of college (and possibly your life). Nothing else can compare to the feeling of one last hurrah, right?
Wrong.
I don't have anything bad to say about my college experience; I loved my four years of undergrad. However, of those four years, I wouldn't say senior year was my favorite, and for several reasons.
The expectations.
Pretty much everyone starts senior year off thinking, "Wow, this is going to be a LIT year!" (or something to that extent). We'll expect to party all day, have no responsibilities or cares in the world, and suffer no consequences... so it's understandable that senior year may seem like a little bit of a disappointment if one's expectations are not met. Sure, we can go out and party a lot, but we have to remember that we're still students so we kind of still have to care about school. Crazy, right?
The stress.
Remembering that we're still students is only half the battle. Here we are, thinking senior year is going to be a breeze, but we're hit by the truck of reality when we come to learn that we're in some of our hardest classes of our college careers and are expected to fight off senioritis like it's nothing.
The endless badgering from family and friends.
"What are you doing after graduation?" "Do you have a job lined up?" "What's your plan?" Seriously, you don't know how much longer you can handle the constant questions without any real answers. The worst part is, you're asked the same things over and over again, sometimes even by the same people. Like, how many times do I have to tell you, Grandma? I'm not getting married right out of college!
The inevitable goodbyes.
It's really hard being the oldest one in your group of friends because you know that, at the end of the year, you're going to be saying goodbye and leaving your still-college-students friends behind while you embrace that post-grad life. Staying in touch is always key in maintaining these friendships, but it's just not the same when you have to be a real-life adult while they get to live carefree for a little while longer.
The unknown future.
Probably the scariest part about leaving the small bubble world that is college. Luckily, some of us graduate knowing what we're going to be doing, where we're going to work, where we're going to live, etc. However, for a majority of college graduates, the future is super foreign and super terrifying. Please tread lightly when talking with a recent post-grad; you may trigger something in them.
I don't want to discredit anyone's senior year. I, for one, had the time of my life this year. It was mostly reaching the end of senior year and knowing that it was the end of an era that made it my not-so-favorite year of college.
