You’re parents just informed you that they have bad news for you but good news for them. They have just paid your last college tuition bill; a day they have been awaiting since they paid the first one. But unfortunately for you that means the “real world” is just around the corner. It has been four glorious years of cramming for tests, pulling all nighters, partying and getting yourself into countless amounts of other antics. But unfortunately the utopia known as college is all about to come to an end. It’s approaching that time of the year when college seniors begin trading in their books and six-packs for a nine to five,(if they’re lucky) and a whole lot more responsibility and a lot less free time. Fears about leaving college life behind seem to be apparent for seniors throughout the nation.
Aryn Kleiner, a senior at Arizona State University, put it simply when asked what her biggest fear about graduating is. “Change is what I fear the most.,” Kleiner said. Leaving your college experience behind and beginning a new chapter in your life can come as somewhat of a shock for many seniors. Kleiner, a native of Long Island, NY, explained that while she’s excited to move back to the east coast after four years of going to school in Tempe, Ariz., she feels as though she’ll be leaving a big part of her life there. “I’ve created this bubble, 3600 miles away from my hometown and in just a few short months I will have to leave it, possibly to never be a part of it again,” Kleiner said. “With all the friends I have made and networks I have formed, what will happen to all of that?” Kleiner questioned. But this Arizona State senior also realizes that moving back to the east coast, means moving back home with mom and dad. Like Kleiner, many college seniors find themselves moving back home with their parents, and for her that is one other aspect of graduating she is trying her best not to think about. “As the saying goes: their house, their rules,” Kleiner explained.
Morgan Parmet, a senior at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, echoes many of the same uncertainties about graduating as Kleiner. Parmet is one senior who doesn’t plan to move back into the home she grew up in. “My biggest fear is that I won't get a job and I'll have to move back home. I really don't want to have to move back in with my parents. I feel like right now I have so much freedom and I enjoy living on my own,” Parmet said. Sure, RA’s enforced quiet hours and you got the occasional slap on the wrist for playing your music too loud, but such restriction, some college seniors feel, wont compare with living under mom and dad’s roof. But with the troubling economy, not getting a job or being able to afford living on your own, is a concern even more evident for the class of 2009.
Nevertheless, even if moving home isn’t the cards for Parmet, or at least she hopes, once she enters the real world, that means, “no more doing whatever I want, when I want,” she said. The same sentiment resonates with Kleiner. “Freedom is probably what I’ll miss most about graduating,” she said. For most college students, they are required to go to class, maybe a few club meetings, but other than that, the day is theirs to do pretty much whatever they want. Leaving behind friendships, your routine and social life are just some of the aspects of college life many seniors will be abandoning come May.
“It’s the ‘little things’ I’ll miss about college,” said Lemore Hecht, a Quinnipiac University senior. “It will be a big adjustment moving home. My lifestyle at college is just so different than my one at home,” she said. For Parmet she’ll miss small aspects of college life like getting to sleep in and dressing in sweats for class. “I’m addicted to taking naps,” she said. But catching extra z’s during the day isn’t the only luxury Parmet will be leaving behind. “Dressing up for work will be a big downer as well,” Parmet said. A college sweatshirt and jeans is appropriate for wearing to class, but such attire may not go over so well in the workplace.
Once college seniors like Kleiner, Parmet and Hecht commit to an eight to ten hour work day, they realize that means no more sleeping until noon, throwing on the first thing they see and most of all doing what they please. Nevertheless, they all agree that all good things must come to an end, even what many deem as “the best four years of your life.”
As far as their advice for freshman goes, their recommendations all seemed to coincide. Parmet, a self-proclaimed nap lover, urges college freshman to “sleep in as much as humanly possible, because in three years, you wont be doing much of that anymore,” she said. And Kleiner couldn’t agree more. “Make the best of your four years in college because boy, does it fly,” she said. While Kleiner knows doing well in school is highly important, “so are those parties and making friends. Never give up an opportunity to have fun because you’ll wish you had more of ‘those moments’ when they’re all through,” she said. Kleiner’s outlook on college life was only re-enforced with Parmet’s philosophy. “Most importantly don’t forget to be a college student. Have fun! After you graduate, it's onto the real world. Just make the most of it, because before you know it, it’s all over,” she said.
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