GPS, Don't Fail Me Now

By Cate Daczyk

According to my mother, once you have a college degree, there's a perfectly paved on-ramp to success. No matter how hard I try, I can't quite seem to explain to her that just is not the case. Life after college is like a highway in Los Angeles—full of on-ramps, off-ramps, millions of lanes, maybe a round-about thrown in there as well. Luckily, I have a year to attempt to figure out which lane I'm suppose to be in; but even then, there is so much I have to do to prepare for each lane. Every exam, resume, application, and attempt at the GRE is another on-ramp—I'm just praying that all of these on-ramps don't lead to a dead end. And just like gas, the price of doing all of this is getting more and more expensive.

I'm currently a double-major in English and Psychology. My Utopian destination: I go to graduate school for clinical psychology and eventually work in a hospital once I get my Ph.D. Then, I'll go back to school and get my Master's in some area of literary studies (maybe 20th century American Literature? Or Russian?). And when I find the time, I will write novels, children's books, or worthless coffee table books full of short stories. Unfortunately, there is no GPS telling me exactly how to get to this Utopia. So I make as many plans as I can (I have back-up plans for my back-up plans). It is so difficult to concentrate on the present when I'm so wrapped-up in the future. I'm not a fan of driving aimlessly, but I feel like I'm driving blind.

How do know which road to take? Moreover, how do you know if you're on the right road? The only solution I can think of: plan for everything. Essentially, apply to every graduate clinical psychology program from here to the moon (I haven't heard of any good programs up there, but who knows), apply to countless journalism schools, take the GRE as many times as humanly possible (maybe take the LSAT as well), and hope for the best. I might not know where I'm going, but I can at least try to be prepared for every possible destination. Wherever my final destination lies, I just hope I have enough fuel to get there.