Life After College: Downhill?
It is repeatedly stated that university will be the best years of your life. But, never fear, life is not all downhill after 3 years in student digs struggling through exams!
For a whole range of reasons, life after college just keeps on getting better and better. Whether you finally achieve the sense of security and success you always hungered after, or realize that no one really has it together, becoming a 'proper' adult is a less daunting prospect than it might originally appear.
1) Independence
Whilst you may feel that in flying the nest and escaping your home life in the dizzying freedom of college, you achieved real independence, this misconception will soon be realized when you actually have a taste of freedom.
Whether by school, parents or a university body, we are watched, measured and assessed for almost all of our adolescent lives. Once you've progressed beyond this accepted route that you were channelled through and are living independently by your own means, you'll understand what it is to be beholden to no one, rising or falling on your own merits.
2) You get out of student digs
Student life is great fun, but is also not necessarily sustainable. The intensity, pace and pressure of being expected to keep up with your work, a thriving social life, living on your own for the first time and (of course), the expectation that you'll be having the best time of your life can be exhausting.
Alongside this comes the stereotypical living conditions of students; whilst it may sound clichéd, the grim student house is an expectation usually fulfilled. After college, your living arrangements are likely to improve and as a young professional your standards will rise.
3) You realize that no one knows what they're doing
Whilst you're still at school and uni, it looks like everyone in a job who pays rent or has a mortgage really has everything together in their lives. Once you emerge from education to join the pool of working individuals, you realize that actually no one has it together and everyone is wondering when they will hit that stage of being a 'real' adult.
This is an oddly comforting thought, as you all feel in the same boat, muddling through life together.
4) Time is on your side
Rather than suddenly feeling old and all grown up, graduating from uni is like joining high-school all over again, and suddenly you're the new, youngest and least experienced kid on the block. Now that you've got a degree, a world of possibilities opens up to you - in further study and research as well as in work.
You realise for the first time that life isn't a race against the clock, and you do have time to stop and consider what you want. It may sound clichéd, but you do need to make sure you enjoy the journey as much as you look forward to the destination.
5) No more exams! (Probably)
No one likes the continuous years of assessment that we go through from the age of 15 all the way through to the end of college. Dependent on your course, you may have been able to choose a less exam-heavy course, but a lot of your worth will have been measured up till now on a few stressful hours at the end of a term.
Moving into the world of work means that you are likely able to put all of your effort into work projects without the fear of a final exam looming over you, which can be a huge relief to many.
Alexandra Jane writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in sourcing candidates for internships
