Five Stages of the Uncertain College Graduate

Life after graduating college can feel uncertain. I’ve lived it and I’m still working through it and feel obliged to warn and inform soon to be college graduates about what life after college can be like, and openly share some of my experiences. The experiences can best be described in stages.

Stage One: Emotional Meltdown. Please allow yourself to go through this fully and if you can, stay away from all social media during this time. Times of transition can have all kinds of emotions and expressing those emotions through status updates isn’t a good idea. You’ll be excited about finishing college, but you’re about to enter into another level of the real world that will be filled with plenty of twists, turns, disappointments and surprises. Taking the time to focus on yourself is critical.

Stage Two: The Question. Constantly hearing, “What are you going to do with your degree?” Know that it’s okay to not know and that you’ll figure it out soon enough.

Stage Three: Downtime. A lot of downtime. While looking for a real grown up job, you’ll have a lot of time on your hands which means a lot of daytime TV. I highly recommend The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Those reruns served me well. And of course this time should be used looking for full-time employment – ideally, you should be looking for a job before graduating.

Stage Four: Job Offers. You’ll likely get offers and calls for a number of jobs that you’re overqualified for, and especially offers for things not in your field of study. If you’re pressed and have to take a job to pay bills in the meantime, do that until the opportunities you're seeking out become available. Often, the job you want isn’t the one you need fresh out of college. If the opportunities you desire are meant for you, they'll still be available when you’re ready for them.

Stage Five: Embrace change. Your friendships are going to change and a number of them will be non-existent. Truth? The hundreds and hundreds of social media “friends” you have are not your real friends. You’re blessed if you have about two people you can call your true friends. A lot of the people you meet before college, during, and after will not remain close. Inevitably, life will pull everyone in different directions and everything will change. Embrace this change.

Life after college can be a challenging transition, but you’ll make it if you're determined to better yourself. This world can be tough, but so are you. Get ready. You got this!

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