Any Advice for Senior Year and Post-College Plans?

Hey NT, I'm about to start my senior year of college on Monday which is pretty crazy to think about. I know this will be a big year for me in terms of my major coursework and grades, along with thinking about and preparing for post-college plans. In general, I want to make the most of it. I have a few initial questions and will most likely be revisiting this thread throughout the school year if anything else comes to mind.

Would you recommend pursuing your master's right after graduation or holding off for a few years? What steps should I take regarding the process of looking for jobs and when should I be taking them? I have interests and things I think I'd excel in, but is it bad that I'm still sort of lost on what I'd like to do? Is there anything you wish you would've done differently your senior year?

I know this is an important time period, so any advice or shared experiences would be appreciated. I hope that things will become a little more clear with time.

Apply for internships asap if you haven't yet or have no experience.

Regarding grad school, you can compare your BS or BA as equivalent to a HS diploma now.

It'll be tough getting work cause businesses will more than likely hire someone who doesn't have a degree (they can pay a lower salary) or hire someone who has a higher education than a BA/BS since they'll have more experience.

I do know a lot of people who do go the grad school route immediately after graduating but you'll also have to think about all the debt you'll incur.

Frank Mucus said:

Apply for internships asap if you haven't yet or have no experience.

Regarding grad school, you can compare your BS or BA as equivalent to a HS diploma now.

I do know a lot of people who do go the grad school route immediately after graduating but you'll also have to think about all the debt you'll incur.

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I've had two internships, one last summer and one this summer.

I always hear stuff like that regarding bachelor's degrees and how difficult the job market is for recent graduates. Definitely makes going to grad school seem almost necessary. For those you know that chose not to go the grad school route after graduating, do they have any regrets? 

AgentZero said:

I've had two internships, one last summer and one this summer.

I always hear stuff like that regarding bachelor's degrees and how difficult the job market is for recent graduates. Definitely makes going to grad school seem almost necessary. For those you know that chose not to go the grad school route after graduating, do they have any regrets? 

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I don't know. Never axed them that or they never expressed that opinion. They have jobs like managers at Wal-Marts or Target though or have even joined the military/navy/air force. Other people moved on to different areas of work, such as becoming real estate agents or bloggers since they couldn't find jobs in their major.

If you enjoyed your job at those two places you interned at you should see if they are hiring and axe if they'll pay for some of your graduate education.

Congrats OP

1st things 1st, enjoy your senior year. All facts. It's a once in a lifetime experience, and trust me when I say you'll look back on it and reminisce on how easy things were. Make sure you're on track to graduate, and if you can, take a bulk of your classes 1st semester so you can just kick back and coast 2nd semester. (Let's say you need 30 credits to graduate, instead of taking 15 and 15, take 19 first semester, then 11 second semester) it'll be worth it. You won't be stressing about classes as much, pa. And you can use your free time to worry about post graduation plans and social activities.

Make sure you get an internship popping off. 9 times out of 10, senior year internships turn into full time post graduate positions. Hustle your first semester, find the right company to intern with, and try to land a part time internship with a company your 2nd semester. If you prove yaself and show that you really that guy, they'll be happy to offer you a full time position, nahmean? And if you only taking 11 credits, busting out a extra 3 hours a day at an internship is light work, B.

Now let me get into detail on how to maximize that joint, right. Aight so boom, it's 2nd semester, you got ya internship popping off or whatver, you getting real social on the weekends and whatver. You living it up. Try and see if that company you interning for will pay for your masters on some tuition reimbursement ****. If so, you good money, fam. Try and get a full time position set in stone before graduation, and after graduation, work that position for about a year. Don't jump into your masters just yet. A lot of grad schools wanna see 2 years of relevant work experience. So try and bust out at least 1, then start sending out applications, get your hustle on while still working that position. It'll be only a matter of time until you making 6 figures.

Suck 4 new ******* very month

OP what's your major?

Please don't say liberal arts

I would get experience before going to grad school.

Do not get discouraged when interviewing for internships or your career. It can be brutal. Interview as much as possible.

Chopper said:

I would get experience before going to grad school.

Do not get discouraged when interviewing for internships or your career. It can be brutal. Interview as much as possible.

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Facts

Do not wait until after you graduate to look for a job. You don't get one. Start tomorrow. Get your resume out there. Start interviewing. I want you to have an internship by December.

AgentZero said:

 
I've had two internships, one last summer and one this summer.

I always hear stuff like that regarding bachelor's degrees and how difficult the job market is for recent graduates. Definitely makes going to grad school seem almost necessary. For those you know that chose not to go the grad school route after graduating, do they have any regrets? 

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Define regrets. 

I'm currently in my second year for my Master's in School Psychology. I went into the program immediately after Undergrad (same school, so it worked out). With a bachelor's in Psych, I'm glad I didn't need more time to figure out what I wanted to do; the job market with a BA in psych is a joke. 

Do I have any regrets? Maybe going straight into a program without working a few years, and having some money in the bank. It's kind of rough when all of your friends who graduated are traveling places in September, while your dreading the process of going back, getting syllabi, professors expecting the world out of you. But then you snap out of it, remind yourself that this is what you want, and that it won't be long before I'll have a professional degree.

I don't know what your major is, so subsequently I can't tell you if its vital for you to go back. With that being said, try not to worry about any of that stuff this year. As a senior in college, the most important thing right now is to literally cherish each day, because it's the last. Things do usually become clearer with time, so don't feel as though you need to have it figured out. 

Your at the point whether you want to chase your lifelong dream or used what you studied in school as your career.

You should be working an internship by now so you can transition into your role full-time (or be promoted into a new one) upon graduation.

If you're not doing that right now, you should be getting on that.

Everything else should take care of itself.

The advice so far given in this thread is how you finish up school with like $50k+ in loans working a trash entry level job.

First thing, find out what industry you would like to work in. Not sure what that is, but yeah figure that out. May not know until you actually try something. Could be new, could be something you've done related to your past internships.

Party as much as you can. Not sure what school you go to or if you're into that, get it out of your system now. Cause real life minimizes the party life for sure.

The absolutely BEST tool you can give yourself in your last year is to network. NETWORK like crazy. My senior year I already had a job and career in hand so I wasn't in your position. But if I was in your position, I would rely heavily on my network seeing what my peers are doing. You'd be surprised on how knowing a certain person at a company you're interested in can help you vastly. NETWORK = NETWORTH B!

Co-sign the internship and network mentioning.

If there is one thing I regret, it's not having done any internships. Found myself with a nonsense delivery job when I graduated . Fortunately now, I found real work, full time. But that year and a half of doing **** post-graduation wasn't a good look. So if I have any advice to give, it's grab an internship or start applying for jobs well before your grad date; as much as you might want some downtime when you're done, it's better to secure a job and get right into it.

Junior year is way more important than senior IMO.

that's the time to get into internships if you hadn't already.

New graduates without any experience are usually left in the dust. I started early on my job search which I recommend you do the same. I started in September and had several interviews with several companies and several locations. My offers didn't come until November-December. If I waited I might not have a job right now.

Starting early is the best advice I can give. Tailor your resume to the job listing because most companies don't manually look at all resumes. They cross reference key words

We need to know what you are studying OP. Makes a huge difference.

Stay Lurkin said:

We need to know what you are studying OP. Makes a huge difference.

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This as well

FlyNY said:

OP what's your major?

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Stay Lurkin said:

We need to know what you are studying OP. Makes a huge difference.

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I'm a marketing major.

My two internships combined involved aspects of marketing, business management, media relations, and sports journalism. Unfortunately, I don't think either would lead to a full-time position, but I do think I can get solid recs from each. I should actually reach out to my boss from last summer to see how the baseball league I worked with went this summer, to keep in touch.

Would it be necessary to try and intern during the spring semester if I already have two under my belt? I'm trying to really focus on my grades for the potential of applying to grad school at some point.