I’ve officially reached the point in my college career when I’m forced to think about what happens AFTER. I mapped it out in my head the moment I got here. When people would bring up careers or graduate school, I’d cut them off. We didn’t need to think about that until junior year. The most you should think about as a first-year are summer jobs and internships.

Now, though, I have to hear them out. I’m still more worried about applying to internships, but I can’t ignore the question, “What are you doing when you graduate?” It’s relevant now; it’s part of the plan. Somehow, though — and I should have known from the reactions of past upperclassmen when asked that question — it’s so much worse than I thought.
I should specify: I’m on the cusp of being forced to face my future career. I still haven’t decided exactly what I want to do. I still haven’t decided exactly what I want to do. I know I want to go to graduate school. I love journalism, but I could also spend the rest of my life writing fiction. There’s no solid answer.
I wouldn’t call myself a control freak, but I like having answers. I like planning ahead and knowing the steps I need to take to get where I want to be, but right now, I can’t. I have no way to know what I’m going to be doing, where I’m going to be or who I’ll still be in contact with. It scares me.
Maybe my worry is because I am in the midst of applying to internships, or actively pressuring my friend graduating in spring into finding a job in San Antonio. There’s an abundance of other stressors I could be projecting onto this specific one. I have no control over that anxiety and that makes it so easy to ruminate on.
All of my friends feel the same way. We’re starting to think about realistic post-graduation plans, and we have no concrete answers. We won’t get them right now, and we have to be resigned to that.
I say this to tell you that we’re all in the same boat. My roommate would tell you that everything works out the way it’s meant to. I don’t really believe that. I’m going to have to make difficult decisions, but so is everyone else

I am suppressing the urge to cut everyone off again — to tell them that we don’t have to worry about that yet. I know I can’t do that. So, instead, I’m going to argue for the opposite. Bring up post-graduate plans. Ask people about them.
This isn’t a competition. Don’t ask someone about their post-graduate plans to see if you’re ahead of or behind the curve. It’s a way to connect. Everyone I’ve talked to has virtually no idea what they’re going to do or what’s going to happen. Relish in that fact: You’re not alone. Even if they know, even if they have a job lined up for the rest of their life, that’s okay. It doesn’t mean anything about you, but ask them about it. Maybe they know something that you don’t.

Ask me about my post-graduate plans. Just don’t judge me when I don’t have an answer.