Life after college is hard, and only the strong survive. As my graduation day approaches and I look back on my time at ISU, I think about the friends I have made, the nights I stayed up countless hours studying, and oh yeah, what am I going to do for the rest of my life?
The lingering question we all face when the drudged month of January rolls around for many seniors is: “So, what are your plans after graduation?” I would love to scream, “I don’t know? Is that okay?” But the pressure to succeed and get a good job after graduation is breathing down my neck at a heavier pace every day.
Of course, I want a job and I want to succeed, move away from home and make my own money, but for many, and especially in this economy, good jobs are hard to come by and need time to culminate before becoming something great. A concept many people do not understand until they are placed in that very serious, scary scenario.
When I was 18 and beginning my four-year journey through ISU, I thought I had all the time in the world until one day, it was d-day and time to make a decision, ‘Which path am I going to take?’
I am proud of the decision I made as a freshman to major in journalism, but all I ever heard was “What are you going to do with that major? The market is terrible and it is going to be too hard to find a job.” Thanks for the optimism.
Apparently, I can’t even major in what I want to do for the rest of my life because the job market is so bad and the idea is drilled into our minds that we are only successful in life if we get a great job with a great corporation, and in reality, that will not happen for many of us.
According to a 2011 New York Time article titled Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling, “Young graduates who majored in education and teaching or engineering were most likely to find a job requiring a college degree, while area studies majors — those who majored in Latin American studies, for example — and humanities majors were least likely to do so. Among all recent education graduates, 71.1 percent were in jobs that required a college degree; of all area studies majors, the share was 44.7 percent.”
I’ve always known my major would pose a challenge when looking for jobs, and that has been the reason I pushed myself to do more with my time while I still had the chance.
To make matters worse for the job outlook, according to Business Insider, 17 million college educated Americans have jobs that they are overqualified for. So maybe that career I aimed high for may not happen right away? Yes. That is what they are getting to.
Looking at my future, my goal of working on Michigan Avenue and living in the city may be a dream to work for over the next few years. Rather, I think the comfort of living at home may take the stress off, as I work to pay off the astronomical loan I have enquired, as well. But the up and up is a warm meal cooked by mom, right? The good news in all of this, I have a mother who wishes I would live at home until I was 40.
Sorry mom, not happening… well at least for a little while.
And about that debt I have enquired since 2008. According to a May 2011 Huffington Post article, “a study conducted by Twentysomething Inc., a consultant firm specializing in young adults, reports that 85 percent of this year’s graduating class will be forced to move back home.”
Make room for me mom and dad. I’m coming back.
They say life is hard after college and only the strong survive, but there is always hope.