If someone had told me four short years ago that I’d potentially want to continue my schooling after I graduatedfrom college, I’d tell them they were crazy.

To me, four years of college

would provide more than enough classes, homework,

projects, presentations etc., for the rest of my life.

Now, as our country falls victim day after day to more and more economic hardship,

students from all types of colleges and universities

are choosing to stay in school, simply because it seems like a better option than getting involved in the ‘real’ working world.

Can we blame them?

Last year, I watched hundreds of seniors walk across the stage, shake some hands and receive their diplomas.

Many, not all of them, but many suddenly found themselves asking the same universal question.

Now what?

The word ‘graduation’ sends shivers down the spines of some young adults who realize their “reckless” days are over. The time to grow up has finally come. No more keg stands on Wednesday

nights when Thursday’s classes are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. No more walking down the hall and harassing your neighbor or housemate at 3 a.m.

No more college life.

Today’s juniors and seniors

however, face horrifying

realizations other than watching their alcohol consumption

decrease.

We knowingly have to walk across that stage in May and enter the shark-infested

waters that surround today’s job market, only to tread in those dangerous waters

and occasionally hold our breath.

But isn’t this what college was supposed to prepare us for? Aren’t we supposed to be able to handle the sudden

pressure after those four years of preparation?

We should thrive on this competition, yet today’s economy is so intimidating that we shy away from it.

We can choose to attend graduate school, get our masters, possibly even pick up another bachelor’s degree

along the line, but we can’t avoid the real world forever. There will come a time when we need to put our education to the test.

We have to somehow get our foot in the door. There’s no telling how long our economy will be down in the dumps for, and procrastination

isn’t going to do the trick for this assignment.

Most of us who graduate probably won’t even work at a job that pertains to our major right off the bat, but that’s okay. There’s no rulebook

or guidelines that state that we have to.

Sometimes you have to do what you need to do, however unpleasant it may be, in order to do what you want to do later in life.