When I first saw the countdown go up, I realized my days were numbered. That’s when the reality hit that college was about to be over. Numbered were the days when waking up for a 10 a.m. class was considered early. Everything seemed to be the last time for this or that. E-mails flooded my inbox reminding me to pay my graduation fee, pick up my cap and gown, and review the commencement schedule. “Real life” is going to begin and frankly, I don’t think I am ready.
Sure, I have completed all of the courses to get my accounting degree. I’ve completed internships, joined clubs, made lifelong friends. I’ve done everything I was told to do in college, but I just don’t feel like I can go out on my own.
I’m not alone in feeling this. When many seniors read this I am sure they will nod in agreement. Despite everything that I’ve done in college, it’s the fear of what I still don’t know that will make me dread the day I put on my cap and gown.
Maybe this is what graduating in a recession does to you. Being a business major, I’ve spent a good part of my last four years analyzing our slumping economy. I’ve learned about the harsh conditions people must face out there in the “real world.”
I know that in the United States 2010 graduating class, less than 19.7 percent of graduates will have a job lined up for after graduation. Just a few years ago in 2007, 51 percent of graduates had a secured job. Honestly, this scares me.
Although I am one of the lucky few who have a job waiting for me, I’ve watched as my housemates and friends have struggled with interview after interview only to be told the company no longer had the resources to make new hires. My heart goes out to them as they worry about what they will do once school is over.
Until May 15, the recession probably won’t feel real to most seniors. Right now, most of us are living in a world where we can swipe our ID cards to buy most of the items we need. Our biggest responsibilities are making sure we turn in our last few papers, and find time to fit in senior night. Once the reality does hit though, I know it will be harsh. Many seniors will be faced with mounting student loans that need to be paid back. Few new graduates will be moving into their own apartments. Instead, most will head back to their high school bedrooms.
Unfortunately, the recession will result in some students having to push aside their dreams. Since studying abroad as a sophomore, I have longed to return to Europe to visit some of my favorite spots during one of my last chances to take a long vacation. Instead, I will be attending Certified Public Accountant (CPA) review classes and finishing up my 150 accreditation credits so that I can prove what a valuable employee I am.
I’m worried about all of the things that college didn’t teach me to do. How do I buy my own car? How do I know when I need to get my oil changed? How do I pay back all those student loans?
As each day ticks away on the countdown, I am reminded again of the last few days most of us have to still be hidden from the recession. Ironically, as we are handed our diplomas, we will also be handed a ticket into our country’s current economic nightmare.
So, if you ask me if I am excited to graduate, the answer will be no. I am not excited to watch my friends scrounge around for jobs or lose sight of their dreams. While I do look forward to the freedom graduation provides, I am still held back by the fear it instills in me. Graduating during a recession is bittersweet.
Nicole Reilly
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This letter has some valid points. Certainly all college graduates should be aware that they are not entering an ideal job market. However, this letter seems to be entirely too gloomy and narrowly focused. Nobody can ever be completely confident that they are fully prepared to succeed at the next major crossroads of his or her life. What’s important though is that they take a leap and give it their best shot. This letter makes it sound like nearly all college graduates are destined to go back home and mope in their parents’ basements, because there are just no opportunities out there for them. If that is their attitude, that could very easily happen. But come on, there needs to be more fight in college grads than that. You can either view the recession as some gigantic outside force that will control and ruin your life, or you can view it as an opportunity to learn and bring change into the world. In a way, the economy needed to go through a drastic downturn, so that people realized recent economic practices and styles of living were not in the best interests of society. Now, most people realize that changes need to be made to make the country and our world better.
You can also view any potential lack of preparation for entering the “real world” as a way to learn how to support yourself, experience new things, and grow as a person. Many of the common sense things that are needed to be done to run your own life are best learned by getting out on your own and experiencing them yourselves, not by sitting back and complaining that nobody taught you how to do them. Lets be honest, the majority of students at TCNJ came from much more privileged backgrounds than those from the rest of the world population. I’m sure many had cars bought for them by their parents. I’m sure many got jobs or internships in the past due to connections from family members or friends. I’m sure many have never really been exposed to the every day struggles that many in the world have just to make ends meet each day.
If in the next few years, your life does not go according to the picture-perfect plan you had in your mind, just realize that you are not alone. That is how life works and a person needs to learn how to deal with any perceived setbacks and adjust accordingly. Even in this recession, you must have the attitude that you will find a job and can get out on your own and be a contributing member to society. It may not be at a company, or in a position, or at a location, or at the salary, where you envisioned yourself to be working upon graduation, but who is to say now, that it won’t be the best for you in the long run? You may not be able to live in your ideal apartment or house. You can still find a way to make that different place work and enjoy it. You may no longer be able to afford going out to the bar several nights a week. You will survive-there are other cheaper ways to socialize and enjoy yourself. You will make mistakes; nobody is perfect. Just because the road is no longer easy doesn’t mean you are a failure as a person. As long as you keep trying, you can always find ways to live a satisfying life. However, if we place all our blame on the recession, or succumb to some fear that we can’t live the life we always envisioned, that act of trying will all but disappear, and we will not be able to live satisfying lives. Times are difficult and I realize that, but doing your best to make sure you find a way to support yourself and contribute in some way to society will always be a more respectable way of living than sitting back and feeling sorry that our life may not be at, what we would individually consider the most ideal situation.
Those are just my two cents (haha, I know it seems like a lot more) on our graduation. Best of luck to everyone.