Wtf happens after college?

i learned that a ba/bs wasn't really worth all that much. this discovery lead me to grad school where I continued to play college for another year and a half. now I have a "real" job and life is pretty good.

Tree Planting all summer so you can ski all winter baby!

i always love it when these realistic threads come up. not only are they really helpful and applicable to my situation, but most of the bullshit that's everywhere in other threads is left out completely. it's really good to hear from people who have made it through all this. i'm a junior in college at mcgill and this is by far the worst year i have ever experienced. i have begun to question a lot of the whole college experience, but i think i will make it through it. being in a great city makes it pretty easy to get distracted however.

no homo...

Oh, and grad school delays the real world by a few years. Or maybe an MD/PhD, which will delay the real world by even longer.

the real  worlds going to suck, im on my way there in college right now and i see my happy childhood turning into an unhappy adult, probably no more blazing, shredding every weekend with your friends, or having fun in general. the way i see it, grownups DONT actually have fun, all of them and my that i mean society says what they do for fun is fun so they dont all go zonkers

I think this only happens once you have kids. I still ski every weekend and still have lots of fun. My college friends that now have kids...not so much.

you get a job and hope you can find some extra time to go skiing
but preferably take weeklong vacations

Its not that bad. Its nice to have the freedom of not having to do homework or tests anymore. Basically your goal after college is just to work and try and save up money. Network with people and try out different jobs to see what you may wanna do. I still ski a lot during the winter and I know skiing isnt going to get me far in life(i am getting paid to ski this winter though :), but honestly, during the winter work slows down for alot of people anyway and ive made some good connections skiing anyway and have gotten jobs after the season by meeting people on the ski mountain and discussing work. I have tried working in office jobs and that shit sucks bigtime, maybe it was just the office I was in but, in my experience, you just try out different jobs and if you become over it, move on to another one. You definitely always need to be working though to pay off student loans or car payments or some other cost that comes up.

There just isn't enough vacation time in the U.S.

ya agreed, specially cleaning up after your friends and partys. shit sucks

you make bank. after i get my pharmacy degree I plan on playing the stock market like a cokefiend and getting a nice place near Baker

I wish man. I got 4 weeks at my first job thinking that I would be able to use it all and there was no way. I used 2 weeks my first year and felt like I took too much. I guess it depends on your job but I get calls at 2 AM some nights and people in the field don't give a shit if you are on a ski trip somewhere.

I hated work at first, it is hard to adjust to going to school 3 days a week and waking up at noon. It took a while to get into a productive routine so don't worry if that first month or so you freak out.

Overall I would have to say that I like work a lot better now. School stressed me out with intense bits of work and being constantly tested and judged wears on you especially after most of us will be in school for something like 16 years. Not having BS busy work homework and having nights to yourself is a good bonus. The best part about working is having money, the worst part about working is that your money goes away very quickly. Car payments, student loans, rent, power, gas, cable, car insurance... the list is fucking endless and seams to suck up every penny it can. I consider myself extremely lucky to have the job I have, I don't know how people get by on 30 grand a year.

More advise, dress well. I try to dress really sharp every day. Don't wear jeans on Friday, the boss doesn't wear jeans. I have found the better you dress and present yourself the easier it is to bull shit your way through things, which is 99 percent of work. In my experience I didn't learn shit in school. I learned broad generalized concepts, all college is for is to prove that you can learn and succeed. That's why harder majors get paid more, you have proven you you can learn. Staying in shape is also a good idea, it gets a lot harder when you only have 4 hours of free time a day and you have to spend 1/4 of it running in place.

I also realized after school that all the stupid judgmental stereotypes fall away. No one gives a fuck if you are nerdy, people use to give me shit all the time in school for playing with RC helicopters. Do shit that makes you happy with YOUR free time. Meet people at work they are probably more interesting than you think, but most of the time they are boring as shit. After school I was kind of lost, I had no real hobbies beside skiing. So I looked around and found there was a lot of shit to do. I started brewing beer and I am working on my pilots license, which is expensive as shit but I always wanted to do it. I made a list of stuff I wanted to do by 30 and that was on it.

Don't tell people you are a good skier, its more fun to just go skiing with them and ski switch a little bit and blow their fucking tits off. People around work still think I am a pro skier because I did a switch 3 on a roller with some work buddies. Then you can just play it cool. Always look for ways to boost your ego. I am a pretty confident guy but I am constantly struggling with self doubt so I take any victory I can, but dont be a prick, this is a fine line but usually its better to be a little on the prick side than a pussy who lets people walk all over him.

And my last little bit of advise before I go, help people move, if you have a truck help them move. Helping a person move is like the ultimate "You owe me bro".

awesome thread, and im gonna reply in a bit. im working from home at the moment...

Totally agree.  I got 2 weeks paid this summer.  I used one to hit up the beach for a week.  When I got back I felt lazy as shit and at the same time I felt rushed as hell like I was behind.

Fuck the real world.  I want to be 8 again. 

That shall be me as well for a few years as well. hopefully getting to know the Rockies better than I do now, the Alps, the NZ mnts and the Andes for a few years, going from season to season, northern to southern hemisphere.  Hopefully finding work with my Natural Resources Management major along the way.

I get 23 days/year and it's been a huge help.

Getting my MBA paid for by my employer.

I was thinking about doing that. Are you just taking night and online classes? How is the work load? Do you think it would be better just to take a year off and bang it out?

If I could put this entire thing in my sig I would. At least somebody on here knows you aren't gonna get by smoking pot all day.

I actually don't start until next fall, but it is night and online classes. I am told I should expect the most busy and stressful 2 years of my life coming up. A lot of companies will pay off a portion or even all of your student loans sometimes with an MBA, so doing it right after college or working a year in a non career position to accumulate some money may be the way to go. I'd suggest talking to future possible employers and getting their take on it as well. To be honest I'm quite nervous about it, but I figure if I just buckle down and get it done with it will be worth it in the end. It is more of a situation that I just couldn't pass up the offer, but I would have liked to do it on my own so I do not have to concentrate on work and school simultaneously.

can you still have the same fun you had as a kid? can you still endure your body with injuries, try crazy stunts, cause shenanigans? you may say yes, but deep down we ALL know it will never even compare to what we had as kids

i don't know man...I'm still a kid...just a kid with a couple of degrees and a real job. I'll let you know about the crazy stunts and shenanigans when I actually get "old".

thats awesome
im stuck in the midwest savin money to move out west in the next two years...

if you are like most people, you get a job and start paying off debt. basically just try to live in a way that makes you happy and won't give you any regrets.

for most people it won't really be your own place because you'll be renting it, and to stay there you will have to work all the time and be able to ski a little bit and order pizza if you're lucky.

when has anyone ever believed that to be the case?  have you read any of this thread?

i think you like just to assume people do to reinforce whatever work ethic/ambition you think you have.  keep up the self-gratification! 

Where do you find these jobs you speak of?  My 9-5 job experience goes as far as applying at Dunkin Donuts and working until I got fired for giving my mom a free coffee.

job listing website, craigslist, classified ads, connections etc. Get out and meet people then pimp the hell out of yourself

generally you need a college degree

I know what your saying, and i can agree with that. i guess what im trying to point is kids dont have to think or have jobs, or responsiblities

haha I know. I was working people who were in their late 20s, getting paid the same as me. It seemed like HELL, seeing as the wages barely paid for ski equipment and lift tickets for the winter. So I resolved to go to college no matter what, unless I can find a kickass job.

For example: my boss makes bank and hasn't gone to college. He has a ton of sick cars, a huge house, etc. When he was around 16 he make his first corporate computer network, and has been making bank doing it ever since. Plus he enjoys it... I wanna find a career like that.

btw quality thread guys, my finger is getting tired from giving out so much karma

college is an eye opening experience to find out who you really are, teachers really make you think about your place in the world, once you have a degree it will help you obtain many jobs, ven if they are irrelevant to your major.

dude if you think smoking or not has anything to do with being successful youre just fucking retarded

Nice post,

i read this and your other story that was a prequel to this.
this is like, what i want to happen to me, its what i want to do, but i feel so pressured by my parents and granddad to like lead this like CEO lifestyle

money