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By Taylor Grant
When you commit to a 4 year university degree straight out the gates of high school, at first it’s exciting. “Oh, a new slate, a new chapter in my life”. New circles, change of scenery, endless opportunities. “I’m so sick of high school”.
Your first year is going to be the biggest wake up call and ego dropping year of your university career. Don’t get me wrong, there will be many moments along this journey where mental breakdowns and sleepless nights get the best of you, but nothing quite hits you harder than realizing that your successful high school grades will not be so easily attained in university.
You’re a straight A student in high school and suddenly you’re getting c’s in university. You never thought that your grades reflect your intelligence until you get your first “low” grade in university and – bam – “I’m such an idiot”. You slowly begin questioning your intellect, if you were ever smart at all.
For some students, they begin to adjust to the grading in university and C’s become a thing of the past. They excel, maintain high grade point averages and completely anal about their grades. Which is fine, there’s nothing wrong with taking school seriously. Especially if it’s required if you’re trying to get into grad school.
Others, they can’t. And within the first or second year they drop out.
And then there are the majority of students who adopt the famous motto “C’s get degrees”. They get by. Aim and hope for relatively high grades, but are content with average grades to “get degrees”.
Every path is a good path, as long as it’s the right path for you, your future, and your mental and physical health.
If you’re among the students who make it to the finish line, graduation is a bittersweet time.
Yes, graduation signifies the end of an era. If this is your only degree, then you’re nearing the end of academia. You never have to take another test again, write another paper (against your will), you’ll never have to study to take a stupid test. Horrah.
You’ve applied for graduation and you’re right on track.
Your very last year will be filled with happiness and relief every time you complete an assignment or an exam, but at the same time, anxiety, because now you’re faced with another dilemma.
“What the hell am I going to do when I graduate?”
You’re at another milestone in your life where there’s a lot of uncertainty about what comes next. Now you have to find a job in your field (preferably), you have all these student loans to pay off (I hope this isn’t true for some of you), maybe now you’ll be pushed to move out of your parents’ house because you’re going to be out of school.
Graduating university is a milestone similar to graduating from high school, except graduating from university you’re thrown in the deep end of “adulthood”. You have bills to pay now, you actually need to think about your future.
The beauty of university is that it’s a free period of time to discover yourself. You can put thinking about your future on the back burner for the next 5 years.
But when those 5 years are up, the stress starts creeping in.
“Shit, what the fuck do I do next?”
