Second-semester juniors are in a weird spot. This whole time, college has felt like you’re just gearing up for the ‘real world.’ Before this, you still had time to change your mind on your major and not have to stay any extra time. Now it’s hitting you. You’re so deep into your degree that you’d have to stay a year if you wanted to change it. You’re doing the hardest projects and memorizing the hardest material that you’ve ever had. You’re starting to really think about the next step and going out into the ‘real world.’
I’ve been feeling this incredible stress recently and I didn’t realize that so many other people feel it too. I thought that having this sort of fear and existentialism wasn’t something that I was supposed to feel until my senior year. Because no one else seemed to be freaking out, I thought that maybe all this time I was working toward a goal that wasn’t what I should be doing.
Because I was so scared about what might come after college, I had a whole crisis about whether I should completely change my path. This process, however, helped me to become happier and more passionate about what I want to do.
There’s no guide for how to get through this time of life and I’m sure I’ll have more moments like these until I graduate and even after. I’ve come up with some ways to cope with this though.
Research. Do what you did when you were first trying to figure out what college you wanted to attend. Look up the pros and cons of what you want to do and figure out the specific part of your discipline that you want to pursue.
Talk to people. LinkedIn is an incredibly helpful tool for making connections and you can start those now. Search up the job title that stood out to you and add people with that job title. Send them a message to ask about their experiences and if they can give you any tips to make yourself stand out in your last year of school.
Remind yourself that you still have time. Even after we graduate, there’s plenty of time to really figure out what you want to do. There’s a lot of pressure that we put on ourselves to get the perfect job right out of school. We lie to ourselves and think that these first jobs are going to be where we stay forever. They don’t have to be. There is always going to be a chance for you to get where you want to be, and that might not be right out of school.
Talk to your friends. They more than likely relate on some level. Sometimes it’s hard to fully express how you feel, but if anything, they can support you and give you hugs when it gets really hard.
Graphic: Katelyn Miller/ The Johnsonian
