About to Graduate from College

So, I am about to graduate from college. After transferring to a different school, spending a semester abroad in Europe, managing several part-time jobs, and taking summer classes in order to graduate on time, I did it. College is tough work, and I congratulate anyone who has made the necessary sacrifices in order to obtain a degree.

Now that school is about to end, I’m experiencing an odd sensation in my belly. I can only describe it as a jumble of excitement, nervousness, and an overwhelming sadness. Over the past four years, I have fallen in love with the atmosphere of the college classroom. It’s energetic, challenging, and eye-opening. No piece of paper will sufficiently express the gratitude I have for the students and professors who have made me a kinder and smarter person.

Although the classroom is challenging, it has become, over the course of four years, comforting. As I am about to leave undergrad, I feel nervous for the same reasons I felt nervous before my first day at college: I don’t know what to expect. I don’t have a job lined up, or a place of my own to live, or a steady source of income. But I do have a part-time job now, and my parents are okay with me staying in their house rent-free until I can find somewhere else to live. These are basic needs some students don’t have.

When I realize how lucky I am to have this kind of support, I open myself up to the excitement. Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed about this time in adulthood — about being a college girl, a career woman, a person in charge of her own life. As I embark on this journey, I must remember the little girl who fantasized about such exciting prospects, because she would yell at me for being governed by fear.

Thus, in the face of uncertainty, I will continue to do everything I can to prepare myself. I’ll read the online advice, update my resume, ask for recommendation letters, and seek help from friends, family, and colleagues. Planning is necessary, but I think that accepting and embracing the uncertainty is just as important. If there is anything I’ve learned in my twenty-two years, it’s that nothing in life goes as planned, and everything is going to be fine.

Stephanie Santos