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Over the Hill: 5 Signs You’ve Hit Your College Life Crisis

Dear Reader,

So, we're back. A new semester and a new group of HawkTalk bloggers. I think this year's team is one of our best yet, and I highly suggest you check out their new blogs as soon as you're done reading this. We had our first meeting a few weeks ago, and when we introduced ourselves it felt strange to say that this was my third year as HawkTalk blogger. As some of you may know, I've been with HawkTalk since I was a freshman, and I don't know college life without it. This is when it really hit me that I'm in my junior year now and that my time at Wagner will be over before I know it. So, I suppose I'm now in my "College Life Crisis," halfway between the student world and the real world. If we're being honest here, I'm kinda freaking out.

Now, I'm sure you're reading this and saying, "Wow Megan, you need to calm down. You realize your like 20, right?" Yes Reader, I know that I have no real reason to freak out. There are real reasons that people freak out, and on a scale from one to zombie apocalypse, this is like a negative seven. But how are you supposed to handle a college life crisis? If I was in a mid-life crisis this would be easy because I could just buy a sports car, marry a trophy husband and call it a day. I doubt a sports car is going to fix my current predicament, seeing as I'm poor and can't drive. But, let's be honest here, I would look awesome in a sports car. What's the college equivalent for that? Buying a skateboard and dating a freshman? I'm just trying to cling to my youth here.

But I can't be the only one freaking out? Right? Right? Perhaps even you have experienced some of the signs of a College Life Crisis? Just to be safe can we compare notes?

1. People Come to You for Advice

Maybe people will make us breakfast in exchange for advice?
Maybe people will make us breakfast in exchange for advice

Now let me say here, reader, I am not an expert in anything. With maybe the exception of how to most effectively binge watch television shows. But the other day I had a younger student ask me to look over her resume and cover letter. She then said she trusts my opinion because I've had so much experience with internships. Me, experienced? You must be mistaken I've only had one... or five internships. Oh... crap. You're suddenly this person who people can learn from and it's terrifying. 


2. You've Cut Back on Partying

I'm at a point in my life where I own earplugs.
I'm at a point in my life where I own earplugs.

I remember there was a point in my freshman year where I ended up in my dorm room at 6 a.m. Not because I had been up all night studying, but because I was taking advantage of the freedom that is college. A couple hours after I got home, I had to show up at a meeting at 8 a.m. in the library. I can still recall trying to scrub the mascara off, to no avail. If you told me today that I had an 8 a.m. meeting in the morning, you can bet your butt that I'd be in bed before midnight. If you invite me out on a weeknight, I'll remind you that I have work in the morning. I've got grown up responsibilities and they're the worst. 


3. Or... You've Become A Party Animal

We're gonna party like it's 2012... when I was so young.
We're gonna party like it's 2012... when I was so young.

So my weeknights are now boring and end after the eleven o'clock news, but my weekends are a whole other story. In a semi-desperate attempt to reclaim my underclassman years, I might be going at it a bit too hard. Even as I write this, I've still got mascara smudged under my eye and am exhausted. I was out with friends and ended up taking the 6:40 a.m. shuttle back to Wagner, crushing my freshman year record. But the partying isn't as fun as it was when I was a carefree freshman. I have papers to write, a GPA to keep, jobs to show up to. What's the fun of going crazy if you know the fun has an expiration date?


4. People You Know Have Become Real Grown-Ups

Did you just call me ma'am?
Did you just call me ma'am?

My graduating class in high school was just shy of a thousand people. So, there is not a chance in the world I knew every single one of them. But those I do know have done a lot of growing up since we graduated. People have gotten married, had children and started careers. When they're like, "Megan, what are you doing with your life?" I give a half answer about an internship and New York City and then excuse myself. I was talking to my mom the other day and I realized that when she was my age she was already living on her own, a couple years later she met my dad, and a couple years after that she had me. What on earth am I doing? I'm not ready to do any of those things. I doubt I'll be ready in less than two years. 


5. You've Started Making Future Plans

It's all gonna be fine. I hope.
It's all gonna be fine. I hope.

Dear Reader, somewhere in between all my worrying and freak outs, I guess I've started planning for the future. I'm discussing ideas for my senior thesis with my advisor. I'm always talking about what job opportunities I'll have after college with my advisor in the Center for Academic and Career Engagement. This past summer when I cleared out my room of old junk, I came across my high school graduation cap. I recalled the year 2010 when I started freaking out about college. About where I was going to study, and what I was going to study, and who I was going to study with. I spent those next two years worrying, stressing, making mistakes, weighing my options and finally going off to Wagner. I guess I'll just have to let the next couple years happen as they will. I guess this post kinda helped solve my crisis... at least for a little bit. No matter what, we're all growing up, and we might as well stick together while we do it.