College: the time when we’re trying to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives and, for a lot of people, figuring out who we want to be. Coming to the last semester in your college career comes with a lot of “lasts” and presents a ton of decisions to be made. Here is what it’s like prepping for your last semester of college.
One of the biggest decisions that you have to make as an undergrad is if you’re going to start applying to the workforce or if you want to continue into graduate school. This, of course, largely depends on what you want to do as well. If you’re in the medical field then you’re likely continuing your education. If you’re an English major like me then it isn’t as clear cut. I could start applying to publishing houses, newspaper companies, nonprofit organizations, entry-level jobs, or I could continue my education.
Looking at Master’s programs during your last semester of college, I realized there are a lot of opportunities. If I went to grad school at NYU I would have one foot in the publishing industry – which is where I want to end up. NYU is a long way from home and potentially expensive. Closer to home is Butler, which has a solid graduate program as well.
On the other hand, looking at entry-level jobs, I could still have a chance to enter my field. Penguin Random House offers entry level jobs, which surprised me. This of course brings me to a decision. Do I go into the workforce as soon as I graduate in December, whether it’s with a magazine, a publishing house? Or do I work in the field for a few years to gain experience and go back to school? As of right now I’ve decided to go into the workforce in order to gain experience. I’ve loved my classes as an undergrad, but I’m ready to step foot into the real world.
Like I mentioned before, going into your last semester of college presents you with a lot of “lasts”. Some of these start a two semesters before you graduate, some in the summer, and throughout that final semester.
Like I talked about before, signing up for classes is one of the last decisions a college kid has to make. At Ball State we sign up for our Fall classes near the end of Spring semester. As a senior I got to sign up for classes fairly early, which was a nice change since I didn’t have to worry about whether or not I would get into the classes I needed/wanted to take. It was different than previous years though. I still had to sign up for at least 15 credit hours to get me to the full 120 that I needed to graduate, but I only had two classes that I was required to actually take for my major or minor. This has allowed me to explore a few different areas of being an English major and take classes I wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to take.
The one thing I won’t miss is buying textbooks. I’ll admit that I can usually get my books pretty cheap because I mostly take English classes, but hey, they still add up! Buying textbooks has always been one thing that I absolutely dread every semester. Do I order them early just to be on the safe side (and ultimately get them cheaper), or do I wait until after the first two days of classes to see what I actually need (and have to buy from the campus bookstore, which tends to be more expensive)? No longer having to buy textbooks has a huge upside: buying more leisure books!
I’ve been in band since sixth grade and marching band since eighth grade. Being a senior in college means that this is my last semester of band. Which means one last band camp. On the one hand this is exciting because it means I never have another week of about 9 AM-11 PM, which is brutal both mentally and physically. On the other hand it means that I’m getting closer and closer to never marching again. That is a bittersweet feeling in itself because it’s taken up so many hours of my life that I would never trade for anything else.
There are so many more decisions and “lasts” that every college kid faces, and not everyone faces the same ones. Everyone reacts differently, depending on whether they’re excited or nervous for that next step. I’m nervous and excited, considering that I’m still in the process of figuring out what that “next step” is for me. But I know that no matter where I end up in January great things will be waiting!
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