Embracing Uncertainty

by The Cowl Editor on October 4, 2018


Editor's Column


by Taylor Godfrey ’19

Editor-in-Chief

For all college students, but especially seniors, there is often a sense that you should have everything figured out. Hearing stories of classmates with jobs or graduate programs already lined up can sometimes make you feel as if everyone already has a concrete plan and you are the only one who does not. However, if you candidly ask any other senior you will find out that is not at all true. But, even if it were, it is still okay to be uncertain.

Finishing high school, getting into college, choosing a major, and completing required classes can all sometimes feel like simply ticking off the next box on a pre-determined to-do list.

With graduation looming, this to-do list is coming to an abrupt end for seniors and though it may be frightening not to have a plan anymore, it is also the most unrestricted many of us have been in our lives.

There are a myriad of opportunities for graduating seniors—from graduate school, to starting a career, to volunteering, to even taking a random job and some time to yourself just to figure it out, which is also a completely valid option.

There seems to be an idea that if you are not in your dream field or enrolled in your top choice graduate school by next fall that you can never achieve your goals. However, there is no reason why this should, or even would be, the case.

We have our entire lives ahead of us and putting this much pressure on ourselves to figure the rest of it out by age 21 or 22 is not fair.

The world is too large and the possibilities are too numerous to pen ourselves into a life we frantically map out during our senior year of college. Things can and will change and instead of viewing this as a negative thing, we should try to look at it as something freeing and even exciting.

Instead of worrying about what we will do, we should take a deep breath and embrace this year by thinking of all the amazing things we can do.