Wow, 4 years goes by FAST. Especially when you waste 2 of them socially and academically, but such is life, learn as you go. I am graduating in a few weeks, and am LOST. I've done reasonably well at my small, cheap, state school. Will graduate Magna Cum Laude, with a degree in History and a minor in Geography and Regional Planning. But........what now? I have a few options, and am taking my time to consider them. I'm for now probably going to find whatever job I can at home, retail, bagging groceries or whatnot. This will probably be about a year or so, until I save money for a car at the very least. I'm not sure what direction to go into then though. I've looked at teaching English abroad........... I've considered returning to my school for a masters in education and an initial license in 5-8 social studies......... I've considered going to another state school for the same............. I've also had people suggest to me and have considered a possible career/attempted career in academia. I would love the world of academics probably, despite the early stress, but can't see myself being a super-high achiever in it in terms of publishing and getting into an Ivy league program in the first place. I would be thrilled to be able to work in a state college or a teachers college or something....... That also leads to me being complete unsure as to what to pursue the PHD in. If I had to say a single area of history/the world to study and research, I'd say the Native Americans of the northeastern U.S/Canada. That's off the top of my head, and there are a lot of other areas floating around in there I'm interested in as well. Then there is the GRE, haven't taken it, probably will relatively soon, but really worried about my math skills, they frankly are awful. There is also the issue of I am not a 4.0 student, my school doesn't have the "name" of many, and my language background is miserable (a semester of Spanish, woohoo) so lost..............
Enjoy being free! If you've never taken time off to go travelling then this is the time to do it - no school, no family, haven't yet established yourself in a career. I am a little different to you in that I worked fulltime while studying, so was in a decent financial position when finishing, and I also had a degree with a fairly well-defined commercial career path (so I wasn't worried about getting a job). I spent six months working, saved up money and then headed off overseas. When I came back I was broke but I'd had a lot of great experiences and was ready to start establishing a career and setting down some roots (buying a car, furniture, looking for a longterm job, thinking about a mortgage). Whenever I think about friends who went straight from uni to work I read this, and remind myself that what I've got is worth way more than a headstart on my career.
WOW Lol, thank god for the onion! Ya my not having a car and the middle-of nowhere campus thing kinda didn't help for money. I was a tutor, and literally, with a few other students CLEANED A PROFESSOR'S YARD for money a few times. Being free will be nice I suppose, I am just a worry freak to much of the time. An extra bonus might be seeing everyone I know from high school that stayed in town, and see if they even recognize me or know me anymore considering i've spent 4 years here, and my interests and way of looking at things has been changed so much, not to mention I am in the process of converting to Judaism......that should shock the older relatives