As a junior in high school, college acceptance is my finish line.
But when I take a step back, I remember that college is only a stepping stone, not the final destination.
With that logic in mind, the reward—for the battle wounds earned from writing countless flashcards, the evenings spent on homework instead of with friends, the near all-nighters pulled, the Saturdays spent with testing proctors—should be to, ultimately, have a job.
I don’t think it is possible to escape elementary school without having some testimonial about what you want to be when you grow up plastered on a classroom wall, or taped to the front of a refrigerator.
Our answers are clear, simple, and generally fall somewhere between a swim teacher and a race car driver. In my first-grade mind, the future was so attainable.
But with millions of educated young people entering the job market during our current recession, my future could not seem more unsure.
Laguna Blanca alumus and current senior at the University of Pennsylvania, Andrew Judson, said, “It is a very poor job market out there, so I may very well be applying for Ph. D programs next fall if I can’t secure a job I find interesting enough.”
It makes sense. As college graduates find that the only jobs they can secure don’t require their college degree, they have gone back to school to earn advanced degrees which they expect will help them in the job market.
But other factors complicate this rationality.
Laguna alum and current senior at Scripps, Felicia Palmer, said, “ I really feel like I need to take a break from my studies and figure out what specifically I want to study in grad school and take it from there. I am hoping a year off will give me clarity.
Graduate school is even more expensive when you don’t know why you are attending and have to return again to do something  else!”
A report by the Council of Graduate Schools shows that the number of people applying to graduate schools spiked after the economy tanked in 2008, and those  rates have continued to increase since the beginning of the economic deficit.
However, in speaking with members of the Laguna Blanca graduating class of 2008, I was confronted with an optimism that I didn’t expect.
Kameron Tarlow, who is now a senior at Emerson College, said, “Am I apprehensive about graduating?
Absolutely.
Luckily the tools I have gained over the past four years have prepped me to be able to feel confident that success will happen, it just might not happen right away…at the end of the day it’s all on me and not succeeding isn’t an option.”
Patrick Lauer, a senior at USC, said “I am petrified to go into the working world, but I definitely feel prepared and ready .”
I previously thought that the spike in grad school application rates was due to the fact that college graduates were essentially doomed in the current job market. Yes, I realize my assertion was maybe a little too bleak.
I have come to realize that not only is college acceptance only a stepping stone, but graduating college is really only a stepping stone as well.
In speaking with the class of 2008, I have learned that future opportunity doesn’t have to be squandered by the economic recession.
Opportunity is something that I have the capacity to create for myself.