Life

What Now? Your Options After College

After college, taking the reins of your own life can be daunting. There seems to be so many options and yet so few and it can be overwhelming. In truth you only have a handful of options after college, which are:

1) Sponge off the rents

More and more people are living at home for longer and driving their parents up the fucking wall. This is due to a mixture of laziness, entitlement, and a graduate's vague sense of optimism that something will crop up if they just wait for it long enough. Spoiler: it won't.

2) Be in denial

You're out of college and you suddenly realise you're on your own, so you get intimidated by your career goals. You do what any reasonable, overwhelmed adult does: you go into a state of denial. You decide you're still not an adult and find yourself a shit job, rationalising that it's just until something better comes along (which doesn't just happen). It's all good though because you still feel like you're in college.

3) Accept it's over

You had a good run, you really did, but it's over. College is finished. It's growing up time now. Once you accept that, you can explore the other, healthier options...

4) Further studying

Maybe you just don't have enough education under your belt yet to get your dream job, so determine if you want to continue studying.

5) Dive into a career

If you know what you want and you want it now, go after it aggressively. You may have to start at the very bottom, but you gotta jam your foot in the door any way you can. Jobs may not be as easy to come by as they once were, but that isn't a valid excuse to not even try to find one.

6) Go travelling

When you think about it, and it's something you definitely want to do, you'll never find a better time to go travelling. It's your chance to gain a bit of perspective, get some life experience, and do some growing up. You'll never have the freedom and so little responsibility as you do at this moment, so take the plunge and just do it.

Share this article
Article written by
Seán has been told by some that he resembles a young Hugh Laurie, but more people have tried to hire him as a Noddy impersonator. Something of a film fan, a pub quiz is one of the few situations in which he is even remotely useful. Seán enjoys the occasional beverage of the alcohol variety, Salt & Vinegar crisps, and referring to himself in the third person.