Social Anxiety Support

Havalina · 09-28-2009, 07:42 AM

I will be graduating this year from university with a BSc. in Physical Geography with honours. The four year degree took me a few extra years to complete, but that's fine. The problem is that I love the student lifestyle and the constant learning. The idea that I will have to get a career in 8 months frightens me. Ideally I would just take courses the rest of my life, but I have to be an adult** now. How have you guys coped with the transition into real-life?

Catlover4100 · 09-28-2009, 12:25 PM

Hmm, there's always grad school. I'm not exactly sure what kind of career a major in Physical Geography would lead to... is it kind of like Earth Science? Maybe you could study meteorolgy or environmental science at a graduate level. Graduate degrees open a lot of doors career-wise anyhow, so that may be an option to consider.

DitzyDreamer · 09-30-2009, 07:22 AM

Hey Havalina,

If I were in your situation, I would talk to your academic advisor about grad school. Although grad school is expensive, there are many benefits:

1. It prolongs your life as a student and therefore postpones adulthood.
2. It looks great on the resume. Having a BA/BS is great, but having a Master's and a PHD is something spectacular.
3. Having grad school under your belt will give you more career opportunities in life.

Havalina · 09-30-2009, 11:41 AM

I've seriously been considering grad-school. But unfortunately finances/life is causing me to have to enter the workforce now. Plus the idea of having to defend my thesis is almost to frightening to bare.

Thanks for the suggestions though.

coldmorning · 09-30-2009, 12:25 PM

I went through the same thing after graduation. It was just this empty feeling of 'gosh, I'm really on my own now'. College wasn't all that great an experience for me but still... I felt protected and a sense of belonging to a community while there. Now it was survival of the fittest.

Anyway, you do move on and get a job. And you discover you can also get a sense of community at work. Your employer will also let you take classes sometimes so it can feel like school in some ways. I actually found work to be better, at least socially for me. Some people find the work environment to be more daunting than school. But for some reason, I found some very supportive co-workers and I grew a lot because of it. I had enormous difficulty making friends in college but never had that problem at any full time job.

Some things that might help is having an internship at a place you want to keep working for after school. I didn't do this during college, but did during grad school and the transition was much smoother. Already knew where I was going to work and what to expect. So definitely do internships at places you'd consider working at.

09-28-2009, 07:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
Havalina Status: SAS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Niagara Falls Gender: Female Age: 24 Posts: 426	My student life is over, onto careers?!@ I will be graduating this year from university with a BSc. in Physical Geography with honours. The four year degree took me a few extra years to complete, but that's fine. The problem is that I love the student lifestyle and the constant learning. The idea that I will have to get a career in 8 months frightens me. Ideally I would just take courses the rest of my life, but I have to be an adult** now. How have you guys coped with the transition into real-life?

09-28-2009, 12:25 PM	#2 (permalink)
Catlover4100 Status: SAS Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gasport, NY Gender: Female Age: 17 Posts: 348	Hmm, there's always grad school. I'm not exactly sure what kind of career a major in Physical Geography would lead to... is it kind of like Earth Science? Maybe you could study meteorolgy or environmental science at a graduate level. Graduate degrees open a lot of doors career-wise anyhow, so that may be an option to consider. __________________ If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days. ~Sylvia Plath

09-30-2009, 07:22 AM	#3 (permalink)
DitzyDreamer Status: SAS Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Gender: Female Posts: 179	Hey Havalina, If I were in your situation, I would talk to your academic advisor about grad school. Although grad school is expensive, there are many benefits: 1. It prolongs your life as a student and therefore postpones adulthood. 2. It looks great on the resume. Having a BA/BS is great, but having a Master's and a PHD is something spectacular. 3. Having grad school under your belt will give you more career opportunities in life.

09-30-2009, 11:41 AM	#4 (permalink)
Havalina Status: SAS Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Niagara Falls Gender: Female Age: 24 Posts: 426	I've seriously been considering grad-school. But unfortunately finances/life is causing me to have to enter the workforce now. Plus the idea of having to defend my thesis is almost to frightening to bare. Thanks for the suggestions though.

09-30-2009, 12:25 PM	#5 (permalink)
coldmorning Status: Add water and shake Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Northern California Gender: Male Posts: 2,123	I went through the same thing after graduation. It was just this empty feeling of 'gosh, I'm really on my own now'. College wasn't all that great an experience for me but still... I felt protected and a sense of belonging to a community while there. Now it was survival of the fittest. Anyway, you do move on and get a job. And you discover you can also get a sense of community at work. Your employer will also let you take classes sometimes so it can feel like school in some ways. I actually found work to be better, at least socially for me. Some people find the work environment to be more daunting than school. But for some reason, I found some very supportive co-workers and I grew a lot because of it. I had enormous difficulty making friends in college but never had that problem at any full time job. Some things that might help is having an internship at a place you want to keep working for after school. I didn't do this during college, but did during grad school and the transition was much smoother. Already knew where I was going to work and what to expect. So definitely do internships at places you'd consider working at.