As I go off to swimming training, I’m trying not to think about jumping into the proverbial deep end as my graduation looms nearer. This may all sound like I’m kicking up a big fuss about nothing — graduation is months away and we’ve only just started the year — but to me at least, uni has flown by and now the panic is creeping in.
Everyone’s got that one person who’s said to them to make the most of uni, whether it's family, or friends who have long since graduated. It’s good advice, but it’s very extremely prone to interpretation. What quantifies making the most of uni? Can you distil it to a quantitative measurement like the amount of VKs drunk over 3 years or the number of lectures attended? It’s hard to put your finger on it, as it's obviously very subjective, but I have to fill out the National Students Survey this year — there’s definitely a few measurable elements.
Leaving uni leads to a very different world — the infamous graduate life. Waking up at midday is not as fun as it once was when your mum is yelling from downstairs to get a job. No more Wednesday nights when you have to get up at 7:30 to catch the train. It’s an unpleasant transition that I don’t think is talked about enough. Three years is a long time, and you develop routines and a way of living that are pulled out from under you in the middle of June. That’s where the panic can set in. Some people start a Master’s that they otherwise might not have thought about in order to keep the uni lifestyle alive, while others change course altogether and start again.
For me, being on such an open ended course means that the panic comes from not knowing which direction to take. There’s a lot of potential forks in the road for me to turn down and not much time to choose. Master’s applications and graduate schemes come and go like the wind, so being proactive is very draining. At the end of the day, uni is what you make it and however you quantify it is up to you. If you’re feeling the third-year panic, reach out to your friends, housemates, and family — I’m sure you’ll find some solace knowing that it’s not just you and with that renewed view, maybe the path will be that bit clearer.