I’m of a class and at an age in which many of my beloved godchildren, nieces, and nephews are graduating from college. I feel the urge to give each and every one of them some emphatic, unsolicited advice. On Christmas Eve I pounced upon an unsuspecting college senior at church. This is what I told her, and what I’d tell them all:
Give yourself a break: In some core way your life has been planned for you up until now. It’s huge to have so much choice opened up before you. There are so many options before you, but you can’t do them all. You will have to choose. Give yourself time to figure out what you want your life to look like. Studying a subject in school can be very, very different from working in that profession. Just because you majored in something doesn’t mean that will be the right field for you. Just because you’ve been saying you’re going to be a lawyer since you were ten years old doesn’t mean law school is your next best step in life.
Profession or location?: There are some professions that drive where you live and other that you can do just about anywhere. Think carefully about which kind of career you’d prefer.
No graduate degree is better than the wrong graduate degree: A Bachelor’s in anything is a good financial investment and will open doors for you. There are many reasons to go to graduate school, but the wrong degree is expensive in time and money. It’s better to delay getting a graduate degree than to get one because you’re not sure what else to do.
Be a fan club of one: Notice people whose lifestyles you admire. Set up a time to have tea and ask them what choices they made to get there. People generally love to talk about themselves and you’ll most likely see that what looks like a nice, neat, perfectly planned life was filled with detours, uncertainty, luck, and determination.
Give yourself a break: In some core way your life has been planned for you up until now. It’s huge to have so much choice opened up before you. There are so many options before you, but you can’t do them all. You will have to choose. Give yourself time to figure out what you want your life to look like. Studying a subject in school can be very, very different from working in that profession. Just because you majored in something doesn’t mean that will be the right field for you. Just because you’ve been saying you’re going to be a lawyer since you were ten years old doesn’t mean law school is your next best step in life.
Profession or location?: There are some professions that drive where you live and other that you can do just about anywhere. Think carefully about which kind of career you’d prefer.
No graduate degree is better than the wrong graduate degree: A Bachelor’s in anything is a good financial investment and will open doors for you. There are many reasons to go to graduate school, but the wrong degree is expensive in time and money. It’s better to delay getting a graduate degree than to get one because you’re not sure what else to do.
Be a fan club of one: Notice people whose lifestyles you admire. Set up a time to have tea and ask them what choices they made to get there. People generally love to talk about themselves and you’ll most likely see that what looks like a nice, neat, perfectly planned life was filled with detours, uncertainty, luck, and determination.
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