As a graduate student, I’ve noticed my newsfeed on social media changing. No longer are my feeds filled with date function posts, club meetings, or spring break travels. Instead, they have been swapped out for “real world” posts. After I graduated my social media did, too. Has anyone else noticed this?
Basically, for the sake of this article these “real world album” posts can be lumped into five different categories; the academic graduate, the traveling alumni, the money makers, the gap takers, and the family lovers. Many people are a mix of all of these, but for the most part, everyone relates to one more than another. Which one are you?
1. The Academic Graduate
These are your lab partners who you were lucky to have in undergrad because they would make sure you not only got an A on that report, but you had your carbon copy for safe keeping.
They just love school.
They love it so much now they have continued onto some sort of graduate school whether it’s a masters or Ph.D. program, medical school, law school, vet school, any school really.
They’re still snapping their all-nighters at the library. For the most part, these are super organized, driven people. The career they want requires a little more time spent posting about how many papers they have due, and that’s okay. I would rather my doctor know more about anatomy than what we all learned in biology class.
Thank you for spending 4 extra years in school.
2. The Traveling Alumni
These are the ones who could turn any trip into a memory and a go pro video, too.
They’re the ones you always found having the most fun at functions with their extra outgoing and fun personalities. You still check their posts daily to see what castle they’re touring, what wines their tasting, or what food they’re eating.
These are the posts that make us all grab our planners and look up the cheapest flight ASAP to nearly any exotic country. How did they luck out with a job or school abroad? I guess we have some notes to take.
3. The Money Makers
These are the ones who always had that huge exam on Tuesdays in HCB. They were hard workers in undergrad and carry on that same goal getter personality in their real jobs.
Getting paid for what they do 9-5 Monday through Friday is a perk, too.
Their snaps vary from super early morning office meeting to late Friday afternoon office parties. They work hard and play hard. These are the people who know what they want in the end and are willing to put in some serious hours to continue working up that ladder.
Keep it up.
4. The Gap Takers
These are the ones in undergrad who always had well thought out plans for everything.
Whether it was for an exam or trip, they were ready and could send you every detail you needed to know. This coordinated character carried them into their gap year which they are still pros at planning. Their patience and focus are what make them achieve that greater goal above and beyond what they could do right off of college avenue.
For example, PA school needs a crazy number of hours, which is nearly impossible to do as an undergrad. Therefore, the only reasonable way is a to take a gap year. They may even be making money for more school, studying for the MCAT, or discovering a new-found love for cooking.
Whatever it is, they have it under control. Personally, their posts of their pets at home are my favorite.
5. The Family Lovers
These are the ones in undergrad that the whole group would call “mom and dad” when you went anywhere with them.
They’ve most likely been dating since forever, and everyone had a hunch they would be the first of the friends to get married. They’re the friendly and mature ones who seem to always know what they’re doing.
Anyone posting about their own wedding, their own house, or their own babies truly does know what they’re doing. They also know how to take the cutest Gerber baby model pics of their little ones. Goals.
In the end, whatever people are posting after you click away from this article and continue scrolling is awesome. Everyone is doing their own thing, finding their own way. It’s a tough “real word” out there and we can all take notes from each other. It’s easy to compare your lifestyle to other’s but the truth is that we are all “adulting” just fine.
