Life After College: 3 Month Post-Grad Update

Update period: December 10 – March 10

What’s next?  Those two words are one of the most dangerous words you can say to a college senior and graduate.  We loathe being asked that question because truth is, many of us have no idea.

When asked that question, in our head, we’re expecting that you want a response along these lines: “I got a job offer with [insert illustrious company here].  They flew me to [insert extravagant city here] for an interview, and I was offered a position on the spot.”

That isn’t a reality for majority of college graduates, but when we’re faced with the “what’s next” question, we freeze and get embarrassed of our not-so-glamours situation.  If we were honest, our response would be something like this: “I’m back home, living with my parents, working a part-time job or—lack thereof—unemployed.  I’m interested in starting my own business or working for [insert ‘unrealistic’ dream company here], so I’m working on getting there.”

So usually, we respond with something that sounds good but not too good.  Or just lie to avoid unwanted judgement.

Many of the people who ask “what’s next” are nosy and want a reason to pick at a young man or woman with a higher education degree so they can compare their lives to them for reassurance that they’re doing better than the next person.  If you’re really concerned with where my income is coming from, offer me a job or your support to go after what I want.  If not, shut up.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s see what I’ve been up to since December 10.

Background on Post-Grad Update

It’s been 3 months since I graduated from North Carolina A&T State University.  Even though it may not feel like I have an update to share, I’m making it an effort to force myself to reflect and evaluate the things I do in my post-grad journey.  This is so I can hold myself accountable of the things I both do and don’t do and to also be transparent with you.

As someone who aims to help people thrive during college, I owe it to you to humanize myself beyond the content I produce so that you can be apart of this journey with me.  Which is very hard because I’m a private person.

Every three months, up until a year in my post-grad journey, I will share an update on what’s been going on since graduating from school on the following topics: student loans, employment, social life, mental state and accomplishments.

-UPDATE STARTS HERE-

Student Loans

I haven’t started paying off my loans yet, but Sallie Mae will creep up on me shortly.  I have 3 months left to get my finances in order.  I’m afraid that I won’t because I currently don’t have a stable income, but I believe things will work out.

According to Student Loan Hero, the average graduate of 2016 is $37,172 in debt of student loans.  I recently checked the total amount of loans I’ve borrowed, and I’m definitely above average.  If you want to see where you stand with your loans, visit nslds.ed.gov and enter your FSA ID information.  From my understanding, the amount of money shown doesn’t include interest so be sure to take that into consideration.

Employment

Finding a job has been a challenge for me.  I haven’t put in much effort when it comes to sending my resume to employers and applying for jobs.  The only thing I applied for was an internship with The Walt Disney Company for the Disney College Program.  You can learn more about that, here.

I’ve been working on getting some freelance work and reaching out to people in the industry I’m looking to get into for a chance to shadow or work for them, even if it’s for free.  I haven’t heard back from some and others have reached back saying they don’t have any opportunities yet.  I’m still searching and following up.

The reason I haven’t been going hardcore on finding a “real job,” meaning one that’s contractual and salary based, is because I want to move out of my hometown.  Like… as soon as I can.  I’m afraid to commit to something that I’ll have a hard time letting go of when it’s time for me move.

In the meantime, working a part-time job sounds like the move I need to make.  Save up enough money from that and move to where I want.  I’ve only had one actual job, and that was at an amusement park.  I’ve worked there on-and-off, seasonally, since I was 15 years old.  It’s a guaranteed job, I made good money (for a student) because I held a supervisor position, but I’ve also left multiple times because I know deep down I’ve outgrown it and it drains me after a while.

I’m not sure if I’ll go back this year, that’s what I’ve been trying to debate.  The money will be better than any other part-time, which means more to save, that’s the catch though.

Social Life

They say it’s harder to make friends after school.  In school, you’re around the same people every day.  Once you hit adulthood, you have to make it an effort to befriend people.  This isn’t so bad when you think about it, it’s just going to take time and courage not to be afraid to go out in public by yourself and spark up conversation.

My social life has been nonexistent the past 3 months.  I’ve been stuck in the house, and I need to work on breaking out that bad habit.  I’m a sociable person, I like being around people, so it’s weird not having a lot of social interaction.  I’ve been craving a good house party and some good ol’ captain or something, haha… I miss college.

Mental State

One word that sums up how I felt over the past 3 months: Pressured

Most of the pressure I felt was pressure that I put on myself for not feeling like I’ve accomplished anything and feeling guilty for moving back home.  I also felt pressure from other people when asked the “what’s next” question and finding employment.

Accomplishments

This was the hardest thing for me to reflect on because I don’t ever feel like I’ve really accomplished anything if it’s not “big.”  I’m trying to work on remembering that small achievements are just as good, and sometimes more important, than the big ones because it’s the smaller things that get you to the bigger things.

• Started being consistent on YouTube by uploading at least one video a week since the beginning of 2017.  I hit 100 subscribers on March 15!
• Auditioned for the play, A Raisin in the Sun.  Even though I didn’t get the part, and walked out of the audition knowing in my heart I wasn’t going to get a callback, I was happy.  I put my fear aside and auditioned for something I wouldn’t have done a year ago because of fear.
• Went to character performer auditions for the Disney College Program and finally got to be around some new people.  The auditions were so fun.  I got cut but the overall experience was amazing.

Watch the video to this update at the top of the page.

Next update: June 8, or somewhere around then.