Fairly Realistic

Finally, we have a few days off from work! Let me tell you, going from five years of college (undergrad and graduate degrees) to the “real world” is an interesting experience. Not just from the deep philosophical, “I’m an adult now” point of view; more so from the “I used to get two weeks of vacation for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break” point of view. One year we even got three weeks off for Christmas and I ended up in Germany and Poland for most of the time.

Fast-forward to now…we get two days off plus a weekend. Hey, I’m not complaining, two days off is two days off but wow what a change. Now that I am thinking about the not-so-deep changes of becoming an “adult”, I think I’ll make a list.

Going From College to the Real World, a List of Differences
1. Vacation time in college is significantly greater
2. You are expected to have an attention span of at least eight hours - not just two hours in a row for class
3. If you’re a techie, you sit a lot. I was a techie in college but I was usually wandering around the IT department tutoring, teaching, or talking.
4. You have responsibility.
5. You can’t skip work like you could skip a class.
6. You can’t show up late for work and just sit in the back so no one notices.
7. You can’t make your schedule from 11am until 4pm and off on Fridays.
8. If you thought books were expensive, try paying for health insurance when you’re not covered under your parents’ anymore!
9. Apparently you are supposed to pay your loans back?
10. You know ahead of time what is going to happen in class (thank you syllabus) but you do not know ahead of time when someone is going to hack into the servers at work and deface all of the websites.

Well, that’s my list. It’s short but I think it should be a part of the college graduate exit exam.