Being in my final quarters at Ohio State, I find myself faced with what most people consider the college-student’s version of confronting one’s own mortality: graduation.
I say most people because I’m not among them. I can’t wait to get out of college. Unlike many of my friends, I’m encouraged to take a long break from school before pursuing my graduate degree. I can do wherever I want; even the city I move to doesn’t really matter since I can write wherever I go. The way that I see it, the world is my beer and the word ‘graduation’ to me sounds like “Chug! Chug! Chug!”
But I am not most people, and I can appreciate the fear that many feel when they think of their college graduation. Just like moving from high school to college demanded that we take on greater responsibility for our lives, so does our departure from college for the “real world.” Now we will be completely responsible for ourselves, going to jobs that we will probably not like and going home in the evening to apartments or houses that aren’t as big as we’d like them to be.
This sounds grim, but allow me to point out the silver lining: if you don’t pursue a graduate degree, you will never have homework again. You can spend time in the evenings playing video games, you can go out for a drink on Saturday and not have to do homework on Sunday, you don’t have to answer to an R.A. for rowdiness on your floor or to your parents about why your bar tab was over $50 on dollar beer night.
What I’m saying is that life after graduation won’t be all bad. Many people, myself included, are afraid of the unknown, which is what graduation means. But we don’t have to be afraid of stepping out of our comfort zone and opening up to the real world. It can be a pain in the butt, but it could also be the greatest party ever.
