Story #2 Draft

So, Maggie, what are your plans after college?

This is one of my least favorite stumbling block questions. Relevant? Sure. Something I want to think about right now? No.

“Oh I’ll probably end up in Omaha doing something marketing related,” is the generic response I tend to throw around. But is this what I really want to do?

Or do I want to try something completely different like California, Colorado, or Minnesota?

The indecision is killer.

Obviously I’m not the only one that has this feeling, college seniors are faced with these tough choices every year.

Bobbi Meister, the counselor on campus, sees a handful of these worried seniors every year. She says most students are worried about the aspect of change and are anxious about the new lifestyle they’ll be thrown into in a few short months.

Bobbi chuckled a bit while saying, “You guys have been going to school you whole lives, so this is a big difference.”

That being said, her sessions with seniors present her with a lot of questions. What is going to happen to the relationships I formed at college? What if I can’t get a job lined up in time? How will I ever pay back my loans?

These are the questions that plague many a college senior, even if they don’t go and visit Bobbi for advice. Luckily for me I won’t have to worry about the loans aspect, but I still have my worries.

After talking to people that have recently graduated, the real world seems to be a bit of a monotonous place.

“I work a lot, but when I’m not working I feel like I have nothing to do,” recent grad Taylor Hixson said. As she notes, that’s probably because seeing old friends isn’t as easy as just going down the hall to see them, making plans is hard.

My roommate, Kaitlynn McShane, is also worried about what her social life will be like after college. She’s considering moving back to Montana, where she has family roots, but is concerned about what making friends will be like when you’re not constantly surrounded by people.

“I’m scared because if I were to move out there by myself I wouldn’t know anybody, so that’s of course scary. When you go to someplace you wouldn’t know anybody at the job and then you get home and you don’t know anybody and there’s nobody to talk to, so of course that parts really scary,” Kaitlynn said.

Seeing as how she is one of the most social people I know, I could see how these concerns plague her.

That’s why part of Bobbi’s advice for seniors is to make sure to make time for self care. Join groups that will get you involved with people and keep you happy.

Another great step towards easing a case of the “after college worries” is meeting up with Stacie Hayes.

When I talked to recent graduates about who was the most helpful during their senior year, they pointed me to Stacie.

Stacie is the career counselor on campus and has one-on-one senior meetings every year with students.

Although some students still try to avoid her and choose the road of procrastination and denial (an undoubtedly enticing road to be on), meeting with her is ultimately to every senior’s benefit.

Stacie helps give students a plan to follow while job searching and fills them in on the areas they might not know about. As she said, “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

So what does life after college hold for me? Still hard to say, but we’re about to find out.