It's the summer before my final year of undergraduate college. I'm pretty worried about the future because I don't know what to do when I graduate. I can only see three options: 1) Go to graduate school. 2) Get a job and work for awhile (forever). 3) Apply to some similar commitment, like joining the Peace Corps or Teach for America. I feel like being gay is making this decision even more difficult. Having been in denial up until college about my sexuality, I sometimes lose touch with myself and fear that I will not make the decision that's truly right for me. Along with that earlier denial, I had also avoided social interaction throughout high school for fear that I would be outed. As a result, I am not used to putting myself out there socially. I don't want to have an unbalanced life: a master's degree while never having kissed a guy or dated? My main concern though: I feel like I haven't been exposed to enough information, experiences or jobs to make an educated decision for my future. If I decide to go to graduate school, I don't know what I would study. To broaden my perspective, I'm curious to know what any of you ended up doing after graduating college. Or even just after leaving high school. How did you make ends meet? Did you find a way to incorporate a social life into your schedule without blowing your expenses? Is it normal for me to be worried about this?? :help:
I can't answer all of your questions, being one year behind you as far as school goes, but I can tell you what I plan to do once I'm done with UG college. Once I'm done getting my Bachelor's in Math, I'm headed to Grad school somewhere on one of the coasts (exact school yet to be determined). To financially support myself I intend to apply for FinAid (as I have for the past two years) as well as get a Teaching Assistantship at the grad school itself. This should cover tuition and room and board, if I'm lucky. If not, I'll probably supplement it with tutoring, but money will be taken care of. My social life now consists of school friends. I love them all to death and we are constantly hanging out, playing video games, etc. The only issue with this is that none of them are gay, so there's no chance of me getting a boyfriend if I just hang out with them (and I do want a boyfriend). This semester, I intend to attend the school's equivalent to GSA both to support the club itself and to scope out possible dates. We'll see if that works out Lastly, it's definitely normal to be worried about the future of your life when a major chapter closes. Leaving UG college means you have another piece of proof that you are worth something to the world, but it also means that your way of life for the past 4 (more or less) years is over and you have to figure things out again. Don't rush into your decision, whatever it is. Take the time to weigh the pros and cons of each possibility before choosing what direction your life will take next. However, don't stress too much. If you make a mistake, they are usually fixable. A direction of life can be altered with a little work, even if it would have been easier to choose that direction from the beginning! Good luck with your last year of UG college, and good luck on your exploration of life!
