40 Really Delightful Things About Being a College Senior

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1. Going to the first week of class with no supplies and still being more prepared half the people there

2. You never sleep enough, but you also sleep too much

3. Checking out a different book for a different 15 page paper every day in one week doesn’t seem like a huge thing anymore

4. What is school spirit? Get me out of this place

5. Crying about your senior thesis.

6. I could skip class… but I really need that recommendation

7. Participating in class without reading the book: “Finally. I figured out college.”

8. Realizing you still have 3 general education requirements you haven’t taken because you didn’t wanna be in class with first years…and yet here you are

9. Taking “Beginning Jogging” as a course because you need to fill up your schedule so you can get financial aid

10. Getting a C in “Beginning Jogging” because you forgot that it meant actually jogging for an hour three times a week

11. Spiking your coffee during your all-nighters

12. Freaking out about all the new hot girls on campus

13. Realizing all he hot girls on campus are actually first years and feeling really uncomfortable about that fact

14. Crying about grad school

15. Crying about *~*A JOB*~*

16. Not actually wanting to talk to 18 year olds, but making friends with first years because they still have a meal plan

17. Thinking about how excited you are to finish school just to start school somewhere else

18. Wow I’m so stressed!

19. Nostalgia for dining hall fried chicken and mac and cheese Wednesdays

20. My final form: I’ve worn these sweatpants 3 days in a row. Fight me

21. Trying not to cry in your advisor’s office

22. Every weekend: “I have worked SO hard. I deserve this break from work”

23. Finishing your senior thesis!

24. Becoming a master of the art of waking up early to finish assignments

25. Feeling old in terms of college, but like an infant in terms of the world

26. Cats have officially become more important than all schoolwork

27. Crying as you cut down your 40 page senior thesis to a 15 minute poster-presentation

28. “I AM SO BUSY!!!!!!!!” *scrolls tumblr for approximately 27 hours a day*

29. Realizing that you haven’t had class in half the buildings on campus

30. Looking forward to eating alone

31. Feeling bittersweet when you register for your last semester

32. Debating whether or not to actually walk across the stage because the cap and gown costs HOW MUCH???

33. Probably crying some more

34. Drinking in between classes at the bar on campus doesn’t seem like such a big deal anymore

35. Avoiding talking to that cute girl because you’re just gonna move in a year anyway

36. A year long feeling of excitement/existential dread about the Future

37. Going to homecoming for the first time and realizing why you’d never gone before

38. Not knowing if your mom expects you to schedule your own doctor’s appointments now that you’re an Adult (and freaking out)

39. Debating wearing a romper with a blazer to a job interview and realizing just how pathetic your “professional wardrobe” really is.

40. Feeling glad, but sad; scared, but ready all the time, all at the same time


Originally published on onelastnightinthehoodagain.tumblr.com. Republished WITH PERMISSION MOTHERF*CKERS.

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Ari

Ari is a 20-something artist and educator. They are a mom to two cats, they love domesticity, ritual, and porch time. They have studied, loved, and learned in CT, Greensboro, NC, and ATX.

Ari has written 330 articles for us.

34 Comments

  1. You know, I’ve been out of college 6 years (holy shit) and yet still identify with this on a visceral level.

  2. “What is school spirit?” I felt that from day one. So much of the “school spirit” at my university was tied to the football team. I couldn’t even feign interest in men throwing around balls on an expensive field that they paid for from my student fees.

    • I felt the exact same way. I went to Western, which is a university in Ontario known for it’s school spirit. I made it to half of a football game once – and even then, I thought the cheerleaders were so much more interesting than the football players (actually, though – they won the national competition like 27 years in a row). I never quite felt like I fit in, though, because school spirit was such a huge part of the student identity there.

    • oh man that’s the worst i got caught up in that shit ALL THE TIME. i’m like “eh, i’ll remember,” and the only thing i would write down was assignments involving page numbers.

  3. This is super cute. It makes me really nostalgic for my undergraduate experience. One thing that I feel like an absolute buzzkill pointing out, but is probably useful for all the undergrads and grad students reading this: your teachers often know when you don’t do the reading, even if you participate. Obviously, it’s near impossible to READ ALL THE THINGS you’re assigned all the time, but just don’t try to snow your professors about it. It makes us sad, but we don’t usually bother to call you out on it since we appreciate that you at least put in the effort to turn up and say something (hopefully) sort of interesting.
    Sincerely,
    A former student who sometimes thought she got away with not doing the reading until she became a professor

  4. I just got my degree TODAY and although I think that the college experience is very different from country to country (I don’t live in the US), many of these things were really accurate. All the crying mostly, yeah.

  5. I’m only a junior and all of these are far too close for comfort. Especially the cute girl #isstudyabroadreallyworthit?

  6. Annnnd this is why I’m postponing grad school for as long as possible.
    Also, lmao @ #28 : 28. “I AM SO BUSY!!!!!!!!” *scrolls tumblr for approximately 27 hours a day*
    I’ve definitely had friends change my tumblr password so I could actually get shit done.

  7. Most of these are also relevant to grad school.

    Except you don’t talk to the cute girls because they are probably undergrads in the class you are teaching, and that’s mucho awkward.

    And you get marginally better at dressing yourself, but only because you are attempting to seem like you know more than people a few years younger than you.

    Oh, and you are far far poorer, and probably more tired. You’d give anything for a meal plan that went on your student loans that you probably forgot about, instead of looking at your bank account and eating rice and lentils again.

  8. I wish I was still a college senior. The real world sucks. Thinking of applying to graduate school to go back to a university setting. Industry is too constrained and there are too many narrow minded people (esp. when it comes to LGBT issues).

  9. Ahahah as a law student these are all highly(sadly) relateable. Also on my list: Do you think people will notice I only own two pairs of shorts that I rotate between?

    Now I’ve learned which ways to walk to avoid running into acquaintances and making awkward small talk! and

    I know there’s no point going to this party tonight as I’ve never really enjoyed myself at one.

    • > Also on my list: Do you think people will notice I only own two pairs of shorts that I rotate between?

      Hell, I’ve survived living with one pair of shorts for a time (’cause my other pair ripped eventually). It just depends on your laundry schedule :) But well, they were black and I guess most people don’t recognize it, when you mostly wear black, that it’s always the same pair of pants.

  10. My mom stopped scheduling my doctor’s appointments after I graduated, which is precisely why I haven’t been to the doctor or the dentist in 3 years.

  11. There is so much truth to this, even 4 years after graduation. Does that “feeling existential dread about the Future” ever go away? Maybe when you’re in your 30s? Maybe then I’ll have this whole adult-thing figured out??

    I must be a glutton for punishment because I’m going to return to it next year!
    “I miss all nighters and living on PBJ. I still don’t own a professional outfit. Hmm… I think I’ll apply to grad school!”

    But this time around, #26 will be true because now I have a cat and I didn’t as an undergrad! She will be my procrastination buddy! :D

  12. It’s funny how different the college experience sounds to uni in Australia! We don’t live on campus (a tiny minority of rich kids do but it’s a networking thing) and in general I think it’s less intense. We often take longer than the 3 years it’s supposed to take us to do undergrad, post grad is unavoidable unless you’ve done a vocational degree straight out of high school, and of course our fee system is less awful because we need have an income of 40k aud before having to repay loans. Everyone lives in share houses or with parents (rent is ridiculous in our cities) and a lot of us I think just float a long a bit at uni. Luckily the larger unis are teaming with lefties, queers, trans ppl, feminists, anti-racist activists and greenies though, which is an oasis in the desert if there ever was one. Ramble over :) (there are also no jobs here once you’re done unless you’re very lucky – youth unemployment at 30%)

    • Oh yeah, we’re totes full of lefties, feminists, queers and anti-racists! That’s why Adelaide Uni elected the Young Libs to run their uni magazine! And why UTas elected a cis-white-dudebro as their women’s officer! And why across the country Aboriginal enrollments make up less than 1.5% of enrollments AND 0.8% of academic staff! Sorry about the sarcasm. The attack of the neo-liberal australian university is something that gets me all sorts of riled up. My experience at a Canadian university and an Australian one is that in terms of feminist and queer politics – North America is definitely winning.

      Also, most international students and a large majority of country students live in student housing and across most of the big universities, the available housing doesn’t begin to keep up with the number of students who want access.

      The HECS-HELP threshold is like 54k, and doesn’t incur any interest, which you’re right, is excellent. Though we are at a disadvantage when compared to the generation before us that all got free tertiary education.

      I don’t think that many people go into post-grad though – it really depends on the degree and the field, and whether or not you can afford it. Centrelink (student welfare) doesn’t support post grad study and HDR scholarships (which are hard to get) stipulate 40 hours full time with less than 8 hours work/pweek outside of the degree. Masters degrees can cost $60,000 which is a lot of money to pay back down the line, you know?

    • Again, sorry about the sarcasm – it’s not directed at you! It’s directed at the education minister and the whole lot of wankery chancellery at the big8 universities! And all the fucking horrible students who don’t give a shit about anything that I’ve encountered in my 7 years at university. :(

    • The idea of rich kids living on campus made me laugh… I live on campus and I’m on a combination of youth allowance (general welfare for non-Australians) and disability support. I am so poor haha. I think it’s probably true for some of the sand stone unis but there’s a pretty huge mix where I am.

  13. I’m a senior finishing my second to last semester, I just looked over my shoulder that was so accurate. Especially everything about talking to 18 year olds, I’m 21 and every time I try to make new friends(Gal Pals), they keep reminiscing about high school. I know I was a freshman once too, but damn, I suddenly understand why so few of the upperclassmen talked to us.

    • yeah, this is so real. it’s especially difficult for me because i’m not a non-traditional student, but i’m also not 21. I’m almost 25…so like, i graduated high school 6 years ago and potential gal pals talk to me about AP English and I’m just like…WHO CARES I’M SO OLD

  14. Yeeeeah.. I don’t miss that at all.

    I enjoy studying what I want, when I want, how I want now. When you actually want to learn something, all the ridiculous, bureaucratic hoop-jumping becomes infuriating.

    (Okay, it’s always infuriating. Also, this list was grand.)

  15. Oh god, #21 was my life. Except I was always unsuccessful and just ended up bawling at my poor bewildered advisor

    and yet for some reason, despite the fact that I spent 75% of my senior year crying, I still miss it?

  16. don’t worry about Future, Alaina, he just released a video with Blac Chyna and they seem happy. Plus she now has that Future tattoo…

    But actually, yayy almost done- get ittt

  17. I think of the struggles for seniors is completing college homework. I know exactly what is procrastination, lack of motivation, and self-doubt. Likewise, I love to use online resources that could help with my tasks, such as edubirdie and be sure that your assignment is done by professionals. Thanks for helpful tips and reminders on how to overcome these challenges.

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