Whether it is something we recognize or not, we spend a lot of time preparing for each chapter of life. This becomes most apparent as high school students when we begin preparing for standardized tests and working on college applications. Although, going off to college means we are entering a new chapter of life, in a different place with new people, it is natural to enter college without thinking about what comes next (after college).

For most people, college represents the last four years of being a kid and having little responsibility other than getting your school work done. Although every adult warns you about how fast college goes, it is hard to believe it until you see it for yourself. Suddenly, you just wake up one day, have to declare your major and realize that college really does go as fast as people say it does.

Although summer internships give you a taste of the “real world,” you still have the comfort of knowing that it is not a real job and you will be back at school before you know it. And yes, every person you ever intern for will tell you how jealous they are that you are still in college and to stay in college for as long as you can…doesn’t make the “real world” seem too promising.

Every college student complains about having to write papers and study for exams, but quite frankly that is the only downside of being a student and is still better than having a full-time job (sorry to anyone reading this who has already graduated college). In the grand scheme of things, as much as the library sucks it is not going to kill you to write a paper or study for an exam every so often.

So now, what comes next? This is something many people ask themselves as they begin to come to terms with the fact that they cannot stay in college forever and they will soon be getting to work at 9 a.m. and wishing back in time. Not everyone necessarily knows what will come next or what exactly they want to come next in terms of living situations, career opportunities and graduate school… that is all normal. Graduating college means that you are entering the “real world,” but it does not necessarily mean that you need to have everything completely figured out.

What comes next is to be determined…