What Do I Do After College??
College. I’m sure several things come to mind when you hear the word. Arguably one of the most discussed topics of America’s youth today is the consensus towards college, or further education for that matter. Each year, roughly 1.8 million students graduate from college. Racked with debt, these individuals attempt to be unleashed into America’s workforce, and most of them do. Yet, more often than not, college students take what comes their way and become absorbed into some mundane entry level position and become indoctrinated in mediocrity at whichever office job took them in.
I realize that I am painting a horribly depressing image for you, but this is the reality for most of those nearly 2 million young adults. We could easily get into some debate and discussion around the true value of college, the rising costs, etc. but needless to say, the conversation I’d like to have today is centered around what to do as you work towards your graduation date. Yes, I realize the vagueness of that topic, but hear me out.
Here’s a statistic for you. In 2016, the average college graduate had $37,172 in student loan debt (I would kill to only have $37,172 in debt by the way). What’s worse, is that this is up by 6% from 2015. So, let’s skip all the lengthy dialogue that I would like to mention here around controversy of rising education costs, value of today’s bachelor’s degree, blah, blah, blah. Let’s focus instead on the average Joe and Jane…or estimate 1.8 million soon to be graduates come this spring. What advice could we offer the poor souls about to enter a workforce at an entry level salary of $52,000 per year.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Stop Taking It Lightly – College is a critical time for making good choices, not bad ones. I get it, your friends (and the movies) glorify the party life. Rank with horrible and irresponsible decisions while your subsidized loans are laughing back at you with their 6.8% interest and 20-year payback period. 20 years, 20 – just think about that. Be selective about your field of study, choose classes wisely, and don’t be afraid to take risks while you figure out what you want to major in.
2. Don’t Pigeon Hole Yourself – Pigeon hole is an old political term which basically implies getting pushed into a “hole” and more or less being forgotten. If this doesn’t sound familiar from your 7th grade history class, I’m sorry. Don’t become this political faux pau. Taking classes for 3 years that you dread and are not good at is a waste, and a sure fire way of ending up a 6-year college student (add line about extra debt here). If you’ve given a particular field of study multiple classes, and you just flat out don’t like it – move on! Better to decide at age 20 that you don’t like tax accounting, then at age 37, when you’ve already given 15 years of your working life to the field.
3. Avoid the Career Trap – The career trap is the outfall of the pigeon hole you put yourself in while you were in school. The career trap compounds your problems substantially. It manifests obligations to “stay stuck”, and the only thing worse than being stuck, is staying stuck. When you commit to a career path after college, you decide to invest years of your life, believing you will be rewarded for hard work and consistency in that field. However, what happens in the career trap, is that you never found what you really want to do. You stuck with that course of study, got the degree, which attracted the job, that you know hate. Oh and by the way, most of you won’t know where to turn, and you’ll get stuck there for the next 30 years of your working life.
I know, I know, this all sounds very doom and gloom, and I hate to say it, but IT IS doom and gloom. Take it seriously. This is your life we’re talking about. Over half of it is spent in that there cubicle you’re sitting in (or would be someday). HALF! Make the good choices while you’re in school, or emerging from it, and you’ll avoid so much headache in the years following.