

Ask HN College Seniors: What are you worried about right now? - portman

I've been asked to address the senior class at my university this week. It's a seated dinner with students and alumni where they can ask the alums about life, career, family -- whatever is on their mind. I'm supposed to give some remarks at the end of the dinner. Expected attendance is about 500 students and 100 alums.<p>My question to the intersection of HN readers and college seniors:<p><i>What worries you?</i><p>Getting a job? Finding happiness? Applying your college edumacation towards something useful? Saving the planet? Finding a date for next Friday? Deciding whether the 3-week-old milk in your fridge is drinkable?<p>I would like to know what's on the mind of a soon-to-be college graduate.
======
bjg
Playing it safe and taking the amazing job I have lined up.

OR

Moving to a place with little to no tech jobs and putting it all on the line
for a chance at happiness with a girl.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Pick the girl. There are always more jobs. You can always move later for
professional fulfillment. You're less likely to have the opposite work out.

~~~
baddox
How are you estimating those probabilities? I would say there are easily as
many eligible girls as there are jobs you're qualified for.

~~~
HaloZero
I think for the girl is bad. Because whenever one side has to sacrifice
something for the relationship, it usually creates this uneasy sentiment where
anytime anything goes bad the person who had to give something up would be
like, I SACRIFICED <BLAH> FOR YOU!

------
realitygrill
Basically, what the hell am I going to do? I'm in the position of being so
generalist that I've botched my ability to signal well. I have no job lined
up, don't feel I'm developed technically enough to do/join a startup, and have
no real prospects at graduate school (economics major). Can't do sales-type
stuff either - too introverted.

It kind of boils down to wondering if I'll make it. PG wrote about startups,
"They're started by the poor and the timid; they begin in marginal space and
spare time; they're started by people who are supposed to be doing something
else; and though businesses, their founders often know nothing about
business," but damn it's still annoying to feel I can primarily describe
myself in those terms.

~~~
pascalchristian
this is a similar situation to me. I'm a college senior at a shit school, from
a not technical major. Masters/PhD would be great but they are either
extremely competitive or very expensive. I guess that's what push me into
entrepreneurship/and more biz oriented, because that's probably the only thing
I could do.

~~~
realitygrill
Yeah, pretty much. Good luck to us, huh? Got any ideas?

~~~
pascalchristian
start a business? even if the business is only decently successful,
testimonials from your clients would make great letter of recommendation for
grad schools.

------
adelevie
Balancing startup work with course work.

Edit: I'm not a senior--I'm a junior. I wonder how my response to this
question will change a year from now.

~~~
simplify
Same here, though this is my last semester. At least, I hope that statement is
true, as I don't think my classes have been getting their fair share amount of
attention lately...

------
kaylanimis
Is the career path I've chosen where I will want to be in 5 years? How do I
prepare myself for a potential switch?

------
baddox
Honestly, I am not worried about anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm a
pessimist, not an optimist. When you think about it, neither need worry.

~~~
adelevie
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage
to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

------
GVRV
What if I could never be the next [insert successful entrepreneur's name
here]? What if I'll never change the world?

------
kingkilr
Not a senior (just a lowly sophomore) but I figured I'd chime in:

Figuring how I'm going to balance the contracting work I regularly do with
another very short term contract this week, and class.

------
webspiderus
Paying for graduate school, mostly, as well as vague concerns about finding a
job when I actually have to.

------
rickyyean
overcoming the financial challenges to be able to pursue my dream

