Now that the holiday season has passed I am sure anyone who is graduating college soon has heard the words "so what are your plans after college" a multitude of times. Those seven short words can definitely grind some gears, so if you're reading this and you ever think it's a good idea to ask a soon to be grad that question, just don't.
I am here to quickly explain exactly how getting asked that question makes us feel. The thing is, we don't know what we are doing after college!! Ya know, we may have an inclination as to what direction we want to head, but as far as a specific plan goes, nope. When asked that question I imagine you're wanting to know a full-on job description complete with health and employee benefits. And to be honest, some of us don't even fully know what benefits are ok? We are just 21 or 22-year-olds trying our hardest to survive the last few months of college before it's all upended again.
Asking "so what are your plans after college?" reminds us that we are soon going to be forced to join the "real world", which is a VERY TOUGH subject for us. Let me enjoy what little time I have left in this nice warm bubble that is college ok? Whatever happened to 'live in the moment' or 'the best present is to be present'? Wasn't that your New Years resolution, Aunt Sally? Let's talk about YOU for a minute! What's your plan? Do you have one? No? Then why are you so focused on mine and not your own?
Asking this question becomes a problem when it is asked for the sole purpose of wanting to give condescending advice or scare us into reality (believe me, I know the reality train is coming full speed ahead and leaving no one behind). As you can tell by the escalation of this article, being asked "so what are your plans after college" really does anger and scare us that much; it truly does give us that much anxiety.
So the next time you feel so inclined to ask this question, please just rephrase it into "what do you WANT to do?" Ask about our interests, our desires, our dreams! I'm sure we would all love to tell you about those!
