After four years of a college education and taking courses from basic English to chemistry, one would assume in the last semester before graduating a more developed plan for the future would be the result of all that infiltrative knowledge.

It seems logical. Go to college right after high school to “find yourself,” and surely after four years of instruction from an array of courses and studies, a better understanding of the world would provide a more defined idea of what direction to take in life.

Yet, I find myself just as lost and unsure of what to do now, preparing for graduation as I did when I enrolled in my first year of college courses. The only difference is I’m three (almost four) years older with a rapidly ceasing ride left on this making the family proud attraction.

Telling people you’re at a four-year university and on the road to graduation is such a crowd-pleasing proclamation. People automatically think “Wow, this person really has their stuff together.” It’s a fun ride to be on, especially at family gatherings when the inevitable interrogation of what you’re doing with your life always becomes a topic of discussion. (Of course, this question is merely masquerading as a show of compassion but is truly driven by spite.)

The next crowd-pleasing phase would be graduate school. What better way to demonstrate how serious one really is about attaining a more prestigious career than to continue the daily grind of a college student. In today’s job market, that is just beginning to recover from the beating it’s endured over the past couple years, its dismal status seems to point any new graduate to the “Go directly to graduate school/do not pass go” sign. If nothing else, school provides a comforting reassurance that buys young adults more time from facing the harsh realities of the real world.

The thought of going to graduate school and continuing my ride on the esteemed higher education expedition not only alarms me, but is also continuing to drive me down a path of unforeseeable debt.

I am at the burnout point which I think every hard working student gets to after completing the appropriate amount of units while maintaining an exceptional GPA for four years. My college transcripts are reputable and are truly an indicator of the lack of social life I replaced with homework and studying years ago. I’m positive there is more to life than campus activities, school work and exams that I’ve neglected to discover because of my monogamous relationship with college.

With a spring graduation planned, I relish any opportunity to exclaim the rewarding accomplishment of a pending graduation. The downside to revealing my personal triumph is the following question that ensues: What is the plan after graduation? That dismal question leads to a mumbled reply, which makes me yearn for the crowd-pleasing response I’ve capitalized on for so many years.

Four years would seem like enough time to learn how to navigate through this whole growing up business and prepare a comprehensive route mapping out the future. But I find myself nearing the end of what felt like a never-ending ride, getting dropped off a little farther than where I started, leaving with a lot of extra baggage and a defective compass as parting gifts.