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I'm going to be honest - the beginning of the year always stresses me out.
Not only are we faced with tasks like finding new classes, buying books, taking care of finances, settling into new dwellings and making new friends, but we as students are faced with decisions of far greater scope. On top of all these mostly menial tasks, students are expected by parents and professors to map out their future.
Mapping out the future? For nearly 30,000 adults who just so recently had their months planned out by parents, teachers and coaches, planning out an entire career is a pretty tall order. How can 18- to 21-year-olds possibly know what they want to do with the rest of their lives?
Such a tremendous decision can cause a lot of stress, and it definitely affects even the surest of students. No one can say that they haven't worried about their future careers and what happens after the best four (or perhaps seven) years of life pass by. Whether or not you "know" what you want to do, the future is frightening, to say the least.
Fear of the unknown is a common human experience. Our own future is the ultimate unknown, and as a college student, we are forced to constantly consider the benefits and consequences of picking a path. Whether it be feeling out one major as opposed to another or picking a fun summer job as opposed to an unpaid internship, the choices made in college could ultimately impact the rest of a student's life. I don't care who you are, that is scary.
Luckily, at USC at least, there are resources for students worried about the future. The Career Center offers a great library for those who feel a little bit clueless about the future and have one on one consultations for students who are a little surer. If nothing else, they are there to tell you that in the end, you will be all right. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in the library peering over books for my particular career of the day, only to decide that I am as unsure about my future as I was before.
There is also some solace in the fact that everyone else in a university setting is going through the same fear of the unknown as one another. Everyone, from undeclared freshmen to eighth semester seniors, feels some anxiety about the real world. The real world is right there, and it's definitely time to start thinking about it. In fact, any student who isn't a little bit worried about what lies ahead is probably in more trouble than even the most distraught and clueless student.
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