Post-graduation jitters? Join the club

Well, boys and girls, this is the home stretch.

That is, this is my senior year here at CSC, and I’m flying first class by the seat of my pants.

I’ve genuinely enjoyed my time here, for what that’s worth, but in nine short months, the seemingly asinine question of  “What are you going to do with your degree?” will be right on my doorstep. I’m not sure about my fellow seniors, but I am not ready for that. Not that I don’t feel prepared for the so-called real world. If the real world is defined by bills and stress-related ulcers, I’ve got a head start.

It’s more the tackling of the age-old question, “What do you want to do when you graduate?” that intimidates me. I tell people I’m a Literature major, and they assume I want to be a teacher.

When I tell them “no,” they look at me and scoff as though I just walked in with a tattoo on my forehead. Who would do something so stupid as to study in a field he or she is passionate about without any consideration for the monetary value? Could it be that I made the fatal mistake of choosing a major and sticking with it despite my projected annual income?

If you haven’t gathered, I abhor people who tsk-tsk and shake their heads when you give the wrong answer to the “What’s your major?” question. After they finish chewing your ear off about how it will be hard to find a job (because I totally didn’t know that already), they follow up with the previously-mentioned “What are you going to do with THAT degree? You have to have a plan, you know!”

Last semester in Dr. Sandy Schaefer’s Music Products Seminar class, we were given the invaluable opportunity to speak via Skype with Rick Drumm,  former president of D’Addario & Company, Inc., as well as Vic Firth Inc. (major bigwigs in the music products business).

When chronicling his road to the top, Mr. Drumm told us that he was part of the workforce and had been the president of a major company before he ever pursued higher education. He told us about how his work experience helped him better apply what he learned in the classroom. He knew where he wanted to go with his education.

What Mr. Drumm told us stands in stark contrast to the ignorant belief that young adults, many of whom are just beginning to discover their true passions in college, should have their futures perfectly mapped out from their 18th birthday to the day they die.  It’s not only ignorant, but it’s downright unrealistic.

For any older readership: what did you want to do when you were 18? 21? Are you doing it now? Why not? What makes asking teenagers to sink thousands of dollars and years of their time into an institution okay, when they aren’t even sure who they are?

Teens are pressured early on to pick both a college and a major, and pick them fast. Godspeed if you decide to change your major a year in and have classes that can’t contribute to a minor or your new major.

People are heartbroken when they suddenly discover maybe they weren’t really in love with music, or maybe they aren’t as good at science as they thought. That’s a paradigm shift in one’s life.

They are often forced to put all of their eggs in one basket with no experience besides high school to back that decision. They claim we’re adults at 18, but treat us like idiotic children with diatribes about how we’ll learn one day and when they were our age. When do we actually reach adulthood? For the critics among you, I doubt you’ll ever reach that point. That’s okay.

I would love to be a professional writer after I graduate. Short fiction would be ideal, but being a columnist of some sort seems a bit more realistic. Is that my plan? I’ve no idea. I’ve got homework due tomorrow, and that’s a bit more pressing than a nine-month-long existential crisis.