Quite terrifyingly, I’m graduating next month, May 13th to be exact. As excited as I am to be done with sleepless nights due to studying, stressing over papers, and my hands cramping from writing hundreds of flashcards, I’m honestly going to miss being a student and especially being a college student.
I can say that I’ve 100% enjoyed my college experience and I’m very sad to see it go. I know a lot of people are going through the same thing as me, with mix emotions when it comes to graduating. If you’re going through a similar situation, I’ve come up with my list of the top things I want to make sure I do before I graduate and hopefully they help you plan your last few weeks of school.
Visit Career Center
This is the first thing to do on my to-do list for sure. A lot of colleges have a career center, a place where you can polish up your resume, participate in mock interviews, or just overall get help with finding out what you want to do after you graduate.
If your college has a center like this, you should definitely take advantage of it before you graduate. Going to an agency that will help you basically market yourself better can cost a lot of money, so to get this for completely free, is a steal. I’m specifically going to polish up my resume and make sure I feel prepared and set for future job interviews or work opportunities.
Ask for Recommendation Letters
Along with getting your resume in order, having references, especially respected professors or bosses through your college job or internships is extremely beneficial. Although asking for a recommendation letter right now won’t be for anything specific, such as a job position or internship, having a letter or two on hand that you could send out about your character, skills, and academics, at a moment’s notice is extremely helpful for later on. Also since you’re still taking classes, you probably still have a relationship with the professor you’re hoping to get a recommendation letter from. Asking a few months or a year or two after graduation may cause problems with timing, but honestly, your professor might not remember you that well.
Before I graduate, I’m hoping to get at least one more letter of recommendation from a professor and then one or two from my internship.
Explore the City
If you’re not moving away from your school, then you probably don’t need to explore your city or town that you spent the last four years that much. I’m however moving home days after graduation and then moving out of the country a few months following that. I honestly don’t know the next time I’ll be in Cleveland, but my guess is that it’s not going to be for the next few years. I created a small list of my favorite restaurants or places that I want to visit, along with things that I’ve always wanted to do while I was here, but sadly never got around to doing it.
Regardless if you’re moving away or not after graduation, you’re probably never going to have this time again, being college students, with all your friends, in the same city or town. Embrace it and take advantage of it.
Take A Lot of Photos
Along with embracing the time you have left, make sure to document it. I’m super bad about taking photos when I’m out with my friends. I’m great about taking photos for blog posts, but for some reason, having a photo shoot before going out, isn’t really something that my friends and I did much throughout college. The last few weeks, I’m going to make sure to document, probably everything, so I can cherish these moments later on.
Have a Friends Night
Having one last night with all of your friends is definitely a must before graduating. My friend group is a mixture of both genders, but if you have a killer girl group, having a girls night in (or out), is a must! Whether it’s a movie night, another wine night, or a night out at our favorite taco restaurant, I want to have one last night that we’re all together and just enjoying each other’s company.
Overall, these next couple of weeks, I’m going to try, (emphasis on the try), and not stress so much about project deadlines and finals and really just enjoy the moments and have fun before I graduate. After all, in a blink of an eye, it’ll sadly all be over with (cries).
Are you about to graduate college or have you already graduated? What is one thing that you want to or wish you did before you graduated? Leave it in the comments down below!
