Lovelyish

I love this post. I’m already moving into the second semester of the sophomore year; how did that happen? Where did this past semester GO!? I’m graduating a semester early too, so it’s weird to know that I only have 2 years left  I’m not scared of leaving, but I would really like to stay where I am. 

I also graduate this semester, actually I already have.  College taught me a lot about different types of people and how they operate.  I don’t particularly want to leave either though.  It’s going to be tough, but hopefully we’ll both manage to keep our college friends.  Best of luck to you on your last finals, graduation, and beyond

Wow, college sounds amazing from your point of view. I’m in my fourth year of college, but I still have two more years. I’ve met some pretty cool people in college, but for some reason the only real connections I have are those between me and my friends from high school. I guess because I spent my childhood with them as well.

I graduated in September and it’s been a real hard adjustment. I went from living in a small college town full of friends and activities to being unemployed, living with my parents, and having my friends scattered all over the state. Life pretty much consists of trying to find work while putting together some semblance of a routine and pretty much all I have on my hands is empty time.

It’s not college itself I miss or really even the lifestyle because I’ve come to realize that part of my life is over and it’s pointless to pine for it when I could be doing more useful things. It’s definitely the people I miss, combined with the realization that I’m now a college graduate and the margin for error just got a lot smaller.

Best advice I can give is to throw yourself into doing something productive once you get back to wherever you’re from. Pick up hobbies or activities, volunteer, look for work. It helps fill your time.

High school was all right. Though I’m not so sure about college but you do make it sound very nice. Maybe one day I’ll go to it? Though you may be right about that..

I felt much the same way when I left college – after struggling to figure out where I belonged, I’d found the perfect life, & I never wanted to leave.

And then I moved six hours way for a job I knew nothing about – and my life was just as good, in different ways. In grown-up ways. In perfect ways.

Good luck to you – live a life you love.

I will be graduating this weekend (even though I won’t be going to the ceremony).  It hasn’t hit me yet, and I am afraid of what is going to happen.  I used to tell everyone that I was ready to leave school and start my life.  After Thursday, I will no longer have to read books, or write 20 page research papers or any of that.  It’s a little weird thinking about it. 

Good luck to you!

Can someone please tell me if anyone actually goes to school for only four years? I’m on my third (5 semesters) and I still have 7 semesters left. ugh

I know the feeling.  The odd thing is shortly after graduating in May I started working at my alma mater as an employee.  It’s just not the same.  College didn’t prepare me for finding friends in the real world.  I’m in the same college town I’ve lived in for well over four years…except it’s bizarre how lonely I feel now in a place where I used to roam the campus with friends all the time.  Congratulations though–no more homework is a nice change.

@midge4ever@xanga - Funny you mention that, such a sore spot.  I was one of few I know of at my school that actually had to stay longer than four years; tons people I know at other universities did beyond the four-year deal.  Then again I went to small school chock-full of overachievers.  Go figure.  I think people need to stop the four-year college stereotype somehow.

@jenjen1010@xanga - Oh geeze I know!

I’m technically supposed to graduate in 3 semesters. Yet I have somehow managed to add on and extra 4. If things go the way I am now planning them (even though things have NOT gone the right way since school has started) I’ll be in school for a total of 6 years. and might I mention that I loathe school?

I learned if I wear my glasses in class, they cant see me sleeping!! LOL

I wont have time to miss it because I finish next week, have 3 weeks off then go into my new program. I will miss my old teachers & friends. It is hard adjusting once you leave but it’s a fact of life.

this post made me miss college already and i still have a semester left =/
i gradaute in may and i know it’s going to be the scariest time of my life, but hopefully one of the most exciting as well =)

@midge4ever@xanga - It’s actually smarter to stay in school longer. Get it done fast & while you’re young. When you wait, you get comfortable & tend to not go back (plus you’ll lock in the current loan rates & school tuition prices).

I originally went to school for a new career field but I love it so much now, I want to advance & the new program starts 3 weeks after I finish so I’m gonna cruise through it. It will overlap with getting my certification but I’m hoping I’ll get it all done before I get too busy in my new program.

@Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga - The longer I stay in school the more I just want to be done with it. The only reason I’m even getting a degree is so that if something happens to my husband I will have a way to provide. But even then, God will have a way to provide for my family if something does happen. I’m not married yet. But, when my boyfriend and I do get married I might end up stopping the whole school thing. It’s way to stressful. And annoying. lol

@midge4ever@xanga - And expensive too. I actually love school, it’s usually the people I cant stand. I take my work seriously & I hate being saddled with so called grown people that half ass come to class & work. I’m not a tattletale but I DO tell the professor who’s not doing anything. This is my future livelyhood I’m working on & I’m not getting it messed up by coat tail riders.

@Shinbi_Belldandy@xanga - I completely understand how you feel. Except I don’t like school. I understand the people disliking though. I do the same thing. 

There was a moment in class where the entire back row was just talking over the professor. It wasn’t like loud talking, but it wasn’t whispering and it was loud enough that I couldn’t hear my professor. I eventually just got so fed up with it that I said, “I’m sorry Dr., but I can’t hear you over these idiots that are having their own discussion back here. Could you please repeat what you said?”

I graduated last year and remained at my alma mater for graduate school.  It is difficult to make that transition from college student to graduate, but those same people who were your close friends and confidants, they’re still close by.  Things like facebook, twitter, xanga (along with texting, calling, etc) help keep people close by.  So its not as difficult a transition.  You’re just not around the dorms anymore.

I can completely relate to your post. I wasn’t a big fan of high school and was caught completely off guard when i went to college and absolutely LOVED it! I made some amazing friends and my time in college went by faster than any other time in my life.

It’s funny- before going to college, so many people were preparing me for the “next stage”  of my life. I received advice from numerous people and I even saw books in stores that were written to tell people how to transition into college. I didn’t need any of that advice though- college was so amazing and I don’t understand what the big deal was.

No one prepared me for life after college though and I wish someone would have. All my friends and I have struggled to find jobs. I immediately went to grad school (in a program I wasn’t super excited about) because I couldn’t find work, but my program has turned out absolutely horrible, has taken all my money, and I am now having to move back in with my parents to save money while finishing up my masters degree. On top of that, my amazing friends from college are now scattered around a ton of different cities and I rarely see them.

It has been a total culture shock to go from living in an environment where you are around people your own age all the time and have endless amounts of freedom to moving back in with your parents and struggling to earn a decent amount of money and meet people your own age. This definitely wasn’t something that people prepared me for beforehand.

Awww… it’s been almost two years since I graduated and this post made me tear up a little. Leaving college to move back in with my mom, back in my home state, with no job prospects and no idea what I really wanted to do was so hard and I missed college so much. I still miss college a little bit but I miss the memories more then I miss the actual thing. Luckily, I found a job in a town about a half away from my old college town so I got to move back to my college state and I’m close enough by to visit for Homecoming and to see old friends who still there but far enough away that I am not constantly reminded of it. All of your closest friends scattering across the country was the hardest though.

thank you!!

all too often here people are saying are excited they are about to just graduate and leave. i’m all too stuck in the moment and don’t want to leave either. even as a freshman and seeing the long 4 years down the road, i didn’t want any time to progress more. people have transferred out and people have graduated and those have been pretty heavy blows because they were people i thought i’d have more time hanging out with. and now that i will be leaving too, it feels even more outlandish, because, what next? i really want to preserve the relationships i have now, but i’m always worried that because we’re not in school anymore i’ll have a falling out. graduate school is never, i don’t think, going to mimic the lifestyle that’s been had in undergrad.

i’ve also had some of the most amazing teachers. their values and passion for teaching makes college so worthwhile.

I feel the same. I feel extremely connected to your post. I just graduated in May this year and I am doin grad school at the same school. Bascially I just didn’t want to leave school too soon plus I graduated early. But after one semester of grad school, I realized I am not happy because grad school is too hard. I also know people come and go. I shouldn’t get so caught up. So now I might end up going back home and start my new life. Honestly, I am scared, very very scared.

this is wonderful. i actually just posted a nostalgic list of memories from my (five) years of college. hands down, the best years of my life thus far. and i’m not expecting life to top it. and i just edited it because i’ve been thinking about how we now say goodbye to this time in our life. i hope you find your way in this weird time. it will all be ok!

go read my last entry!

I graduate in 3 days! (after 4 and a half years). Fortunately I have my lease until the end of August and can basically just bum around with my college friends for a semester without having to do any homework. I’ll hopefully be getting a job in a town nearby soon (interview today) and might be staying in the area. The nice thing about my group of friends is that most of them have already graduated or are graduating with me so we’re all in the same boat basically.

@midge4ever@xanga - I find this weird. In England, you pick your degree before you start, and if you are a full-time student, you complete it in a set period of time (generally three years, depending on your degree area).

I have to say, the American system is extremely confusing to me.
My degree is a four year European BA Honours, as I did a year abroad in France. If I don’t pass everything this year, I fail, that’s it. I can’t just re-sit modules until I pass or pick and drop classes at will.

@individually_surveys@xanga - It’s ok. I think it’s confusing to everyone, including us Americans. The reason most of us are in school longer than we are supposed to be is because we change majors. I wish our system did it your way. I really do. It sounds less stressful.

@midge4ever@xanga - Oh, okay. Am I right in thinking that when you start college over there, you don’t need to know what your major is going to be straight away?

@midge4ever@xanga - I did, but it meant dropping a minor (which wasn’t as bad as I thought). The four-year plan is getting harder to achieve, unless you have the perfect mix of knowing what you want, the curriculum fits the 4 years, and sometimes, just plain luck in getting a spot in a class.

Oh, and nice post, Erica! Making me miss my college days, and they weren’t that long ago!

@individually_surveys@xanga - Yea. It’s true. A lot of students that go to College end up entering with an Undecided degree. I didn’t, but I’m still in school for an extra couple years.

@midge4ever@xanga - I am actually one of the only people I know that graduated in 4 years. However, I also took summer classes and even one winter intersession course. I think I graduated with 2 or 3 extra classes but I also had 2 minors.

I learned a lot in college. I learned that I am stronger than I give myself credit for. I learned that it is possible to go to school full-time while working part-time and still earn good grades, despite what a lot of my classmates said. They were too focused on partying. I still don’t believe that college is the best 4 years of your life. School + work = stress. Not fun partying every night. I went to a commuter school so I didn’t get the dorm experience and those close friendships. It also means that most students live within New York City so my classmates aren’t spread far, so the friends I did make are not difficult to keep in touch with. That might have made a difference.

College doesn’t really teach you about graduate school. The application process alone is a nightmare. And then the interviews! I only applied to one school for undergrad so I guess I missed the horror of applications and was unprepared for the grad school application process. I’m in graduate school now [different school] and still commuting. Still missing out on that dorm experience haha. Like a few others have said, grad school is hard. My boyfriend is currently finishing up his M.A. in history and his program is 32 credits set up on a 2 year schedule. I’m in the beginning of my M.S.Ed. in school psychology which is 60 credits [66 if you specialize] set up on a 3 year schedule, with the final year being a full-time internship so most of your credits are earned in the first 2 years. It’s a lot of stress and schoolwork, especially when you’re still working part-time. I can’t imagine doing this while working full-time. I can barely take the stress working part-time. I may leave my job next year if I can obtain a position as a graduate assistant [not that that really pays..] and live off my loans.

Grad school is not a decision to be made lightly. If you’re afraid to leave college, don’t think applying to a graduate program in the same school [or any school] is going to be just like college. Consider this: I was talking with one of my professors last week and she said “no one should be getting anything but A’s in grad school.” The pressure is on, the work is difficult, sleep is not an option. That being said, I do plan on obtaining my doctorate after this. I don’t think my life [or the "best years" of it] will begin until I’m 30.

I miss college because it was easier. The commute was shorter. Not really for the friends, because they’re still close by but it was definitely easier to text someone and say “hey, are you on campus?” and stop by the campus center for an hour or two of hanging out after class. I do see my friends less now but I think that is more a function of being in grad school.

P.S. Sorry for the ESSAY! lol