As junior year winds down and class registration begins, senior year is inevitably on our minds. Senior year always seemed like an idea, never a reality, until now. I started thinking about it a lot when I was picking classes for next semester. It seems like everyone else is asking if I’m ready for senior year. How could I be ready? You mean, am I ready to be thrown into the real world with twenty times the responsibility I’m used to having? No, not really.

Up until now I had a lot of flexibility with which classes I could take and when I could take them. With two semesters left, there’s not so much flexibility. It’s stressful because there’s no more avoiding classes just because you don’t like the time they’re offered or the professor. I need to strategically register for the remaining courses because time is limited. Some classes are only offered in the fall or the spring so as a second semester junior planning for next year, I have to be careful with class registration. If you mess it up, it could mean taking summer classes or an extra semester, which I’ve learned is not uncommon. It’s a little late to get off track, which puts added pressure on schoolwork.

The seniors always seemed so much older than me, even this year. It’s really scary to think that will be me in a few weeks. I’m not at all ready to be faced with the year of lasts. The last homecoming, the last Halloween, the last formal, the last final exam, and the list goes on. Watching my senior friends go through this now is hard enough and I can’t imagine facing that myself.

Finding a summer internship is pure panic because there is no security that you’ll just find one next summer, because next summer you’ll be a college graduate. Applying and interviewing for an internship is a job in itself, as if we have all of this extra free time on top of school and extracurriculars. It hit me that it’s the last chance to get a summer internship before graduation. At the same time I realized this could be the last summer vacation ever so might as well live it up while I can.

Now when people ask, “What do you want to do with that major?” it actually matters. Freshman and sophomore year those answers were simple and often impracticable. Now, those answers are your future and you actually have to know what you want to do with your life. Senior year of high school was similar to this feeling but it wasn’t the end, it was just a transition to college. Senior year of college is terrifying because if you aren’t going to grad school, this is it. All of your life you’ve been going to school and this is the end of the road. You have a lot of decisions to make soon and next year is going to be important. In case you forget that senior year is right around the corner, I’m sure a relative or friend will remind you that you’re almost a senior! Are you ready to be a senior?