What is something you wish you knew in your last year of college?

1. Stop spending money. You are going to need it.
   — yohanmcdonald


2. I was so worried about being behind at that age. I wish I knew that you are still really, really young in the grand scheme of things. You don't have to have everything figured out by 22. You will struggle for a time, screw up constantly, and life probably won't go the way you expect it to. And that's okay. Most people go through the same thing.
   — Headdesk_warrior


3. It's ok to enjoy your last year of college. I was so focused on getting to Medical School I let some moments of my youth pass in the library.
   — PerryCox__MD






4. If you want to get into grad school, you better start getting to know more of the professors in your major. Even if it's just staying after class to ask questions, or answering questions during lecture, just make sure they know you well enough to put a face to your name. It really helps when asking for recommendation letters, and the professor can attest to more than just "well, they got an A in my class"
   — BPSteve


5. 28 year old guy here. Recently engaged, so I feel that I've just "graduated" myself from the first phase of post-college life. Happy to answer any and all questions (although some might say that my advice is worth what you pay for it). 1. While GPA does not strictly matter *much* a few years out of school, it **absolutely** matters what the first digit is, especially if you are targeting the most prestigious firms/grad schools at some point in the next few years (e.g. MBB consulting/Bulge Bracket Finance/top defense/etc). I was stupid enough to let a (relatively) high paying job offer in the fall of my senior year fully kill my work ethic, leading me to drop to *just* under a 3.0. I cannot tell you how many times I have been "dinged" when interviewing for higher paying positions because I don't have the grades to clear the 3.0 bar. These firms at the highest echelons have so many qualified candidates that it is an easy black mark to weed me out, despite my other qualifications. It's made it so I had a hell of a time gaining admission to business school, despite doing extremely well on the standardized admissions test. I am fully confident that an extra 0.1 or 0.2 in GPA would have made a difference of 100's of thousands of dollars in salary and grad school scholarships over the past 7 or so years since I graduated. It was my own damn fault for taking my foot off the gas senior year, and I implore all of you to not make the same mistake. Anecdotally, I've found the thresholds for experienced hire are 3.0 for most F500, 3.2 for high finance, and 3.5 for consulting. 2. If you are in a serious relationship and want it to continue, there is **NO** path to success if you two aren't going to be in the same location at some point in the future. I put myself through hell trying to keep a college relationship alive even though we didn't know if we would ever be in the same city again. Not to mention, as a year older, it sure sucked going to bed at 11 or 12 while she was headed out to the frat parties/bars. At some point you realize that the great relationship you built was founded, partially, on convenience and proximity. If you're in Chicago and your partner plans to get a job there, sure, do long distance; but if neither of you is really sure what you really want, it may be time to have a frank conversation about what you want and if that fits into a future together. 3. **DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE EFFECT OF THE LOCATION OF YOUR FIRST JOB ON YOUR HAPPINESS**. Out of college, I had always planned to live in Manhattan. I'd visited older friends there during school and just loved everything about the city. About 2 weeks before graduation, my job moved my starting location from NYC to Rhode Island. While I made friends and loved my time there, I still feel as though I missed out on the prime 22 - 25-year-old NYC experience that many of my friends from school had. It's okay, I've made my own way and actually live in NYC now, but I can't tell you how often during those years I was trying to sleep on couches in Murray Hill to just get a taste of this life that I wanted so badly to experience. In retrospect, I wish I had really thought harder about what I *really* wanted in my years post-college, and not just shrugged and hoped for the best. 4. The dating scene in college is (relatively) homogenous: not by race or background but by general attitude: the large majority of people who are in college envision some kind of career and ladder climbing in the future. Whether a theatre or Comp Sci major, most everyone has big plans for themselves and minimal baggage. This is NOT the case in the real world. You are far more likely to meet and date people with baggage and who don't think about their future the same way you do. Just know this so you don't make assumptions out there. 5. Network your ASS off right now. Use your career services and LinkedIn to find alumni in your chosen career path and schedule informational phone calls. It will give you the real deal understanding of your planned profession and make you some contacts you can lean on down the road. I've switched jobs twice now, and each time I've done it through contacts. People LOVE to talk about what they do, especially to genuinely interested college seniors. Don't be bashful: shotgun out emails and see who responds. 6. Don't fuck up. Stay away from the shit that campus police get excited about: DUIs, hard drugs, & dealing anything. You want to know what will seriously retard your progress as a young professional? A criminal misdemeanor. Take a damn uber or walk. Trust me...when you see those blue lights and know you're fucked, there's no worse feeling in the world. I got off on a technicality, don't chance it! * * As a side note: if you have to pee, and just can't find anywhere, don't pee in public - just put a bottle in your pants and pee in it or worst case piss your pants. I'm serious. Don't become a sex offender by whipping it out because you didn't want to ruin your $25 old navy jeans. You're drunk: it's half water anyway and you're gonna get some on yourself regardless. 7. Lastly: Post college life is AWESOME. You think college is fun? Wait til you have disposable income and no homework. Get excited for it. **EDIT** Wanted to add that the transition from College to Post-College is very similar to the transition from HS to College in that you can completely change who you are if you want. Were you a bit shy in school and want to get invited to more parties? You can both make new friends (intermurals are great for this) OR just find your way to parties from your College. Seriously, no one cares or remembers much. I have an old roommate who went from overweight shut in - playing WOW every night, never went out - to an in-shape party animal. He just said fuck it, I want to be in shape and I have this job now, I'm gonna go out and just chat people up. It was tough for him, I could tell, but he just made himself do it. He even dated a girl from our college for a while that used to be the definition of "I only party with [blank] house guys". People don't have time to remember who you were, they're too focused on their own shit. So if you want to be a different person, just do it.
   — jackstack1


6. Appreciate the fuck out of it and don’t get stressed out about the little things. My senior year I couldn’t wait to get out and start a job. I’m 24 and graduated last year and I would give anything to wake up on Monday mornings knowing that I had interesting lectures to go to instead of going to a corporate office and sitting behind a desk for 8 hours.
   — elephantsarechillaf






7. one of my friend has to redo two entire semesters because of an error made by the faculty. The students are obliged to take an internship and make a comprehensive report by the end of the semester. Since most internships are on Summer, the nature is that on February you submit internship proposal to the faculty. After accepted, you do the internship on the summer and submit the review on the next semester. There are several documents needed to validate your internship. These documents are given by the faculty, you have to hand it to the employer, then submit the filled papers back to the faculty. There was a single page that was missing in my buddy's papers. A. single. page. The faculty forgot that one page. Now he has to wait an entire year so he can take another internship to graduate.
   — batavianguy


8. That it'll work out.
   — nymphetamine-x-girl


9. That finding a job is 10% applying, 90% networking. I should have spent way more time on the latter.
   — R3ddittor






10. Just because you can put it on a credit card doesn't mean you should. Don't buy that new PC component, that new monitor, or that World of Warcraft Account (shut up, it was a simpler time) just because you 'can'. You'll be paying it off for years and years.
    — verziehenone