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BrennanBanana
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

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Joined: 5 Aug 2014
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 5

01 Dec 2015, 12:51 am

I'm supposed to be graduating, with a BSc in biology, at the end of the month but I am dragging my feet because I don't know how to deal with it. I already did an extra semester after completing my course requirements because I didn't feel ready to go off and be an adult. Now that semester is coming to an end and I still don't feel ready and don't know how to prepare.

My parents are starting to get frustrated with me because they feel like I am wasting my life, and stalling for time, and wasting money by staying in school. My dad is annoyed because he expects me to get a career-job straight out of school like he did. I tried to explain to him that doesn't happen for most people anymore and you need a graduate degree or experience to get you into most places nowadays. He got kind of angry and said I should have taken something useful that would get me a job and I shouldn't have taken biology if it doesn't get me anywhere.

I'm scared of graduating. And I'm scared of having to be an adult. I've been in school my whole life that I can remember. Change and transitions are already hard for me, and even harder when no one gives you any instructions on what and how to do it. I keep asking my parents and older friends how it works when you graduate and everyone jokes "None of us know what we're doing. We all just make it up and pretend." which is entirely unhelpful. I don't know how to just make it up and pretend that I have a job and am supporting myself and being a productive member of society and managing whatever other adult things there are. I just literally don't even know where to start and I'm scared and people are getting frustrated with me but I don't know how to move forward instead of sticking to what I know.

Does anyone who has gone through this have any good advice? OR know of any resources to help with this stage of life? Neurotypicals don't seem to understand that I can't just go ahead and wing adulthood without at least being given some sort of rudimentary roadmap outlining the steps I need to get anywhere. It feels like the most impossible task of executive functioning that is full of expectation and zero guidance.

I've been trying to do the few things I know you're supposed to do....like getting a degree...and I've been volunteering somewhere related to my chosen field, but just started that this fall because I didn't have the time before. I don't know what else to do and how I'm supposed to turn that into a life.

Help?



carthago
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

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Joined: 15 Nov 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 140

01 Dec 2015, 6:40 am

The whole point of going to college and paying unholy sums of money to learn stuff that you could have learned much faster and for free on Wikipedia, is to gain access to the university recruitment pipeline. These days, if you have no professional experience, then university is your one and only ticket in. At least, that's the case in the US. Yes, a graduate degree is a requirement of many jobs, but you can still find a job without one.

The catch is, your chances are much better before you graduate, than after. Most jobs are filled a semester or two before you graduate, so if you graduate without an offer in hand, you'll be fighting over the scraps without the inside track of your university career center's relationships to help you.

If that's the situation you find yourself in, you can either go into hyper-networking/application mode to get a job that you would have looked down upon 6 months ago, or you can go to grad school. If you go to grad school, start your job search in your first semester and intern every summer--which is also good advice for undergrads (but they never follow it).