It's almost here. The day you've been dreaming about for four (or more) years. Graduation is right around the corner and you're about to begin your final semester as a college undergrad. This is an exciting and scary time in your life, but it's important to keep your eyes set on the prize and to make your last semester your best semester yet.
Don’t Wish It Away
You can have a countdown until graduation on your phone and you can be excited, but remember what this time in your life is. You will never, ever get this back. Enjoy every second and don’t waste it away by longing for what’s to come.
Watch Netflix Less, Say Yes More
Believe it or not, binge watching Friends for 12 hours does absolutely nothing beneficial for you. Saying “no” to a night out, happy hour or a girl’s night because you’re tired may seem like a good idea at the time, but these are the things you will wish you had done more after you graduate. You’ll never look back and say, “I really wish I would have finished that season of Sons of Anarchy.”
Develop Good Sleeping Habits
On the weekends, stay up late. Stay up until you see the sun. But on weeknights, go to bed at a decent time. Quit scrolling through Twitter and Instagram until 1AM and wake up early enough to get ready and have breakfast. You’ll thank yourself when you start you 8-5 “real world” job.
Learn How To Budget
Sure, we know how to solve for X and know how to find derivatives, but in 16 years of school nobody bothered to teach us how to budget. Figure it out now. Living off $1.46 in college is a completely different story than living off $1.46 as a real adult.
Take Time To Appreciate Everything
Appreciate your college town and the fact that you’re constantly surrounded by people your own age. Appreciate being less than 10 minutes from every single one of your friends. Appreciate wearing whatever you want. Appreciate cheap drinks. Appreciate your campus and the resources available. Appreciate the little things because you won’t have them forever.
Be Content
You may still have no idea what you’re doing, where you’ll live or how you’ll make ends meet. It’s going to be okay. Don’t ruin the time you have left worrying too much about the future. The future will work itself out.
Break Up With Your Cell Phone
PUT YOUR CELL PHONE DOWN. When you’re at dinner with friends, don’t look at it. Don’t look at it when having a face- to- face conversation. Don’t sit on it for hours when you should be sleeping. This is horrible etiquette and a bad habit that has plagued our generation. Be able to show future employers and professionals that you are a fully functional human of society without being glued to your phone.
Be Supportive Of Others
Some of your friends and sorority sisters/ fraternity brothers will also be in their last semester of college with you. Some of them may have a job lined up in January while others won’t have one until the week before graduation. Some will have six job offers and others will struggle to find one. No matter which person you are, remember to be excited for those who accept jobs and figure out what they’re doing and supportive of those struggling. You’re all going through this time together and negativity doesn’t help anyone.
Know When To Ask For Help
Remember what I said about having 16 years of school and no idea how to budget? This will probably be the scenario for a lot of things. Don’t be afraid to reach out to career services, your advisors and professors and your parents. Contrary to popular belief, just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you’re expected to know everything, and that’s okay.
Strengthen Your Friendships
Some of your friends might not be graduating yet and some will accept jobs on the other side of the country from you. You’ve spent three and a half years making fun memories with them, and while you should continue to do that, you also need to make sure they know how much you love and care for them because these are the people you’ll want to keep around forever.
