As I enter my final quarter of college, I can’t help but feel that doomsday is drawing near. For me, this doomsday means that I’ll finally be forced to grow up, get a job, and have to pay full price at the movie theater.
Thus, in my attempt to delay the end of my world as I know it, I’ve continually bumped my job search to the of my to-do list, a subconscious decision that my parents are less than enthusiastic about, to say the least.
But my Peter Pan complex hasn’t been the only factor deterring me from diving into the pool of post-college job applicants. The economy and the sagging job market, even for qualified college graduates, seems to be a topic of particular interest to various newsmagazines and papers, which seem to be publishing a plethora of articles with the sole purpose of scaring soon-to-be university graduates like myself. Or maybe that’s just my self-centered worldview. Either way, chancing upon constantly multiplying feature stories about Harvard grads working at McDonalds doesn’t make me anxious to join the national search for employment.
Yet after a spring break of fighting with my parents, I’m beginning to realize what I always dread realizing, but inevitably always do—they’re right.
While the conditions for scoring my dream job may not be ideal, I can’t avoid graduating. Rather than letting the news scare me into solitary days staring at the TV screen, I should use it as an indicator to put my best foot forth with respect to my job search. During a recession, it is more important than ever to send out applications, network, and do everything possible to secure a successful and happy post-college experience.
Though I’ve been reluctant to ask anyone for assistance in my unenthusiastic job hunt, I’m starting to understand that it would be wise for me to take my parents up on their offers to help me out, by using their knowledge, resources, and networks.
And no matter what I may get stuck doing next year, whether it’s a fun job that pays next to nothing, or a tedious year of filing papers, it won’t be forever. This is only my first step out the door; it’s just chapter one of my life with a B.S.
It’s time for me to get started looking for a job and sending my resumé to every job for which I’m qualified and pray that I get accepted to do something, somewhere. And if not, there’s always the hope that the Mayans will be right, and the 2012 apocalypse will end the world just in time to save me the worry of being unemployed. 
Obviously, the primary goal of a university education is to, well, get educated. And though academics are the most obvious way that a college experience educates us, a lot of what you’ll learn will take place outside of the lecture hall.
In my former years at college, I’d daydream about the day when I’d have my own apartment. I could store whatever I wanted to eat in my own refrigerator, throw classy parties for all my friends in my own well-decorated living room, and most importantly, host friends from past eras of my life on my very own couch. 
There’s no denying that technology has changed the college experience immensely in the last 20 years. These days, we record our professors, take notes on personal laptops, and find research articles on the internet by merely typing key words into a single, free database. 
At a big university, you meet new people every day. Of course, this will include dozens of people you’d prefer not to be around, people you find particularly annoying, and people so irritating that you can’t handle being within a ten foot radius of them.
This is a guest post by Molly Cornfield, a senior at UCLA.
It’s no secret that the costs of a college education are skyrocketing to an all-time high. As the annual price tag of a private university shoots well beyond the average post-college salary, even society’s most educated are wondering: is it worth it?
