With this year over, we say congratulations to our graduating seniors and start welcoming new freshmen into the post-secondary world. On a lesser note, freshmen finish up their first year and go into sophomore year with new knowledge of how college life works, and sophomores go into junior year, now with even more wisdom of college life and perhaps even a change of major. And we can't forget transfers as they move up into a new school. The one group this article is about is the juniors (myself included). We move up into being the "big kids" on campus, replacing our friends, the seniors, as the ones our younger friends look up to.
And we're freaking out about it.
This isn't at all new to us. We were seniors before in high school. We've all moved up before and had our friends look up to us before. Easy. Yet we're so on edge about our last year in college. We all know the reason for this, but some people still seem to think telling us that everything will be fine and that there's nothing to worry about will solve everything and magically make us calm down. So here's a quick, two-point rundown for those people on why we're freaking out.
First of all, it's our last year before graduation. For most of us, this means we're all stressed out with making sure we don't check out of our mental hotels so that we can all get our degrees ASAP. That means doing our best in buckling down to save our GPAs (especially for those people trying to get into grad schools right after undergrad is done), get precious internships (to get experience for so-called "entry-level jobs"), and even hold down part-time jobs (partially for more experience, partially because of debt). Essentially, year four is always the most taxing year, particularly for those students who didn't get much done in the first few years.
The second and most crucial point is the real "no, duh" point. After high school, we just had more school to look forward to for the next four years. But now that we're finishing up college, we're facing the real world after this graduation. It's the sole reason we're stressing out and are mildly in denial about school this coming fall. This is our de facto last summer as students (as well as our last summer to use that as an excuse for things, hehehe...).
We know our last three years just flew by like nothing, so now we're doing anything to make sure our last year is not only our most enjoyable year, but also our most productive year. It is upon ourselves to make sure we get good grades and job experience all while making sure we don't crack from the pressures coming from both our social and academic spheres.
And that's why we're freaking out.
The next time you're talking to students and they say they're seniors or going to be seniors in college, congratulate them for making it thus far. If anything, say congratulations, ask them their majors, ask them about the major and keep it there. Encourage them, let them know you believe in them and support them. Just for the love of all that is mighty don't ask them what their plans are after college unless they bring it up.
We're trying our best to succeed, so please try your best to support us.
Thanks.
