Many college seniors across the country will walk across the stage to receive their degrees this coming December or May. We are on the cusp of the rest of our lives and this can be a scary time as we figure out “how to adult.” As the start of school arrives, here are 5 things to remember as you get closer to your final semester of undergraduate school:
1. An Apple A Day Keeps The Senioritis Away.
Just like in high school as you were working hard to get into college and earn scholarships, it’s important to keep your eye on the prize, even when it’s tempting to just let everything go and sail smoothly towards graduation day. We need to task analyze -- figure out how long any assignment or project will take and figure out what needs to be accomplished when. Stay organized, keep on top of things, but take care of yourself when you can’t possibly push any harder.
2. It’s Okay To Not Have The Rest Of Your Life Figured Out.
I certainly don’t and neither do a lot of soon to be graduated seniors. Think about goals that you want to accomplish in the future, but spend most of your time and energy thinking about next steps. Before you can think about 10 years in the future, think about the next few months after graduation and gradually work your way further into the future, making sure that you’re not reaching too far into the future and losing touch with what’s happening right now.
3. There Is No Prescribed Path. Don’t Panic.
There isn’t that same pressure to go a certain way when you graduate college like when you graduate from high school. Graduating from high school, at least where I grew up, there was pressure to go to college the September following graduation. A college graduation leads to more possibilities. It’s certainly expected that you’ll get a job post-graduation, but you can also go to Graduate School, travel or any other option that works for you. We get to choose what direction we’d like to go in next. That’s both terrifying and exciting.
4. Take Care Of Yourself.
In our culture, self-care isn’t talked about or accepted enough. If you need to take an afternoon off of your work, do it. If you need to talk to someone, do it. If you just need to take a nap and come back to what you were doing later… do it. If you don’t take care of yourself, there is no way you can be your best.
5. Celebrate How Far You’ve Come.
Take time to look back and see what you’ve accomplished already. There are times when the end of your college career can bring a lot of stress and uncertainty, and sometimes you might wonder why you even bothered to go through all the trouble of these last four years. Recognize the growth you made and remind yourself why you pursued an undergraduate degree in the first place. Sometimes if you remind yourself of where you’re coming from and where you were, you can reorient yourself to what you see coming next in your life. Plus, you've worked incredibly hard. And that alone is worth celebrating.
Best of luck in your last semester of college! Your future is bright and there is no doubt in my mind that you will accomplish great things. After all, you made it this far!
