Guest blogger, Ada Ruzer ’11
The other day a good friend of mine posted her Facebook status as: Only 96 days until graduation! Immediately, my heart started pounding, I became short of breath, and the room began to spin.
Well okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but seeing that number and realizing that those 96 days include weekends and days I don’t have class, made the reality of college coming to a close just that much more absurd.
Despite my role as a Peer Advisor at Career and Employment Services, I, like the rest of the senior class, am still very much aware and subject to “future” freak outs. I am acutely aware of how quickly my time at Puget Sound is coming to a close and because of this I know that I need to make the most of these last three months, appreciate not only the place that I have grown to love, but also begin conceptualizing a more 9-5 oriented life.
Remember that anxious feeling you had when you were waiting to hear back from colleges? It’s the same kind of thing. Back then it seemed like nothing would ever be the same, the wait would never be over. Yet that letter came, we made our decisions, and we survived. We will survive this too. Four years later our problem solving skills are stronger, our vernacular more polished, and our potential strengthened by all of the activities and experiences we have been exposed to on and off campus. Rather than fall apart, take this time to sit down and think about what you want your life to look like—at least during the next couple months—remember your first job out of college is in no way your last!
As Sue mentioned in her blog post a couple of weeks ago, it’s important to know your starting point: Where do you want to live? What do you want to do? Who do you want to work for? At this point many of you have probably already given this some thought. It’s important that you remind yourself of how much you have already done to begin your way down the career path—whether it was stopping by our CES Weekly Table, attending the Career Fair, working on your resume, involving yourself in campus activities or holding down a job in general—all of these activities contribute to your professional prospects.
So while the days may fly by at a cartoonish speed (sorry, it’s a lot less than 96 days now) I realize…we have been taking steps all year in order to ensure that the transition from college to career will not be too daunting. The hardest part for many of us now is waiting to hear back from places we’ve applied to. So let’s all take a deep breath and calm down, because we haven’t graduated…just yet.
© 2011 Career and Employment Services, University of Puget Sound
Photo: star5112