Students succeed without a plan

Photo+credit%3A+Chase+Falk

Photo credit: Chase Falk

The probing question asked of every graduating student about what they will do after college is more anxiety-inducing than the previous years spent at a university.

Regardless of how many times a student might dodge the question, the most truthful answer is that they really don’t know. Somehow, it feels like there’s no wiggle room to express uncertainty about the future since students have allegedly spent their entire college career preparing for what is to come.

Twenty to 50 percent of students enter college as undecided and about 75 percent of all students will end up changing their major at least once before graduating, according to academic advising journal the mentor.

Stumbling around to figure out where to go in life doesn’t mean that students are being failed by their colleges. About 83 percent of graduating college students do not have a job lined up for after they graduate according to a study done by AfterCollege.

Although a large portion of the student population might not have jobs lined up after college, 89 percent of students with a bachelor’s degree will be employed within a year or two according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

Figuring out what to do after attending a university is the final part of a college experience. Most students aren’t going to know what they want to do or where they intend to go, but stressing out about it doesn’t help.

There is a sense of urgency to find a job and start diminishing the debt that can rack up in college. The California average of $22,191 in student loan debt is typically the motivating factor that makes people rush into finding jobs.

Looking for a career to employ the skills that students have been cultivating at university should be encouraged, but not the life-or-death situation it’s made out to be.

Fretting about the future until graduation is not the route that college students should take when deciding their careers.

While many students are beginning to go job crazy with the end of the semester rapidly approaching.

Marrion Cruz can be reached at [email protected] or @TheOrion_News on Twitter.