By Molly Golebiewski
I have always struggled with deciding what I want to do after college. Even though majors might give me some idea of what I could do, it still is a hard decision; it’s like I have to decide on the rest of my life right now.
I am the kind of person to always have a plan, so it’s a tough spot to be when I can’t plan out my future. Although I’m still a freshman and have plenty of time to work it out for myself, the choice I make for my entire future is such a life changing decision that I can’t stop thinking about it.
But, even though I may have time to think it over, not everyone does. For the people graduating in the spring, the decision on their life after school is a lot more pressing. No matter how much time we have to decide the answer to it, we are all asking ourselves the same question: “What am I going to do?”
Most students likely consider college a part of their everyday life; it’s just a routine, another step in life everyone is supposed to take. A lot of us go to college just because we feel like it’s necessary, like it’s something we should do, even if there is no other reason.
I’ve learned that, for me, having this mindset makes it more difficult to choose my future. Instead, it helps to focus on why I’m going to college, and what I can do later in life with what I’m learning. To make a decision like this we need to think about more than just the present moment. We need to think about what we’re going to do with it.
There are lots of options that can be available for students who do not know their future yet: they could live at home or move somewhere new while they decide, or choose to go to a transfer university or get an internship to get a head start on their decision.
Living at home is very nice for me, since I can narrow my focus onto just school and my future instead of having to also worry about paying for rent and utilities. However, remaining in the same setting for a long time can make it hard to know what options are out there to decide from, making the option to move someplace else the perfect thing to do while trying to plan what is next.
In my immediate future, I plan to transfer to a university not just to get a further education but also to have more time to make decisions on what I want to do even further on. For many students this can be a great option, as it can lead to more networking opportunities and can help them find a specialization for their skills that they may really love.
Although we may be scared for our future after college, it is important to keep an open mind on the choices that we have before us. Choosing a job immediately may result in being miserable, or it might just help you start your journey into learning what style of job works for you. In turn, taking an internship first could help you confirm that the job you think you want is really what you like to do in practice.
The most important answer to the question of “What am I going to do?” is to find a purpose in life through discovering what is important to you in a career. Taking the time to find out more about yourself and what you want from life is something that can be very beneficial, and it’s something we all work towards right now.
If we stop looking at college as just a natural and routine next step and instead focus on using it as an opportunity to help us find what we want from the world, we can discover the answer to our future. Looking forward to and getting excited about life will help us push through the process of discovery, giving us motivation instead of fear for our future.
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