The life after

Transitioning from college to the real world

Kaila Parent, Production Assistant
I interned in Detroit this summer, working – mostly for free, admittedly – for several different businesses. After spending six straight semesters in the the rather, ah, quaint surroundings of Big Rapids, it was a revelation. Now I have four classes left, and I can’t do this town anymore.

A mere four classes stand between me and my reentering of the real world – a world where I’ll have loans to pay off rather than loans to support live off of. I just couldn’t be exclusive with Big Rapids for another few months, attending FAC like church and snoozing through classes teaching me the four P’s of marketing for the fifth time. 

So I’m splitting my time as much as possible, spending as little time in Big Rapids as possible, all while working in other places as much as possible. And really, is that such a bad idea?

College can either be an extension of high school or a preparation for that “real world” thing. Hopefully by the end, it’s more of the latter than the former. I’ve been coddled by college classes for too long now. I’m ready to go back to being that “grown up” thing I’ve been told about.

Those last classes are still important and probably shouldn’t be taken lightly. Sometimes, though, even our completely, totally, 100% impeccable higher education system can be found lacking, and we find our final classes being less of the career preparation we were expecting. Instead of waiting around, whining about how little we’re learning, perhaps it’s better to take the foot we have in the door and start walking all the way through.

By knocking out a bunch of involvement in the early years of college to learn – and to boost the resume – that last year can be spent getting a headstart on a job that doesn’t involve ringing up groceries and paychecks smaller than your loan payments.

It isn’t as relaxing as taking a last, easy semester before jumping into the pool, but at least the gnawing worries about things like finding a decent job and paying off loans are kept slightly at bay. Also, they have real cities out here.