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Wikipedia defines the term quarter life crisis as a term applied to the period of life immediately following the major changes of adolescence, usually ranging from the late teens to the early thirties. In other words it’s the major crisis most college students go through during their senior year. This crisis can be caused by the stress of finding a job after college, getting into a good grad school, or even stressing over graduation itself. No matter what the reason, around six months before graduation most college seniors cringe when they are asked, “What do you plan to do after graduation?”

I must admit that I am not excluded from this illness; in fact I’m almost certain I’m about 3 months into my current crisis. In fact I freaked out so much that I purposely pushed graduation back a semester. (Don’t tell my family.) Now, I know that sounds crazy, but until you’ve had everyone from your parents to your teachers telling you to make a five year plan at 21 years old, you can’t really understand. At a time when all you want to do is enjoy the moment, making major decisions for your future can be hard to do. So, to help myself and others that are currently going through the Quarter Life Crisis I came up with a small survival guide.

Now, Let’s get started.

1. Relax, have some fun: Now I know this seems self-explanatory however for some reason towards the end of their college career people get stressed and hide out in their respective study zones.  While cracking down and hitting the books hard is very important, stress normally does more harm than good. Instead of stressing over finals and resumes, college seniors should go out and have some fun. After all, after graduation comes the real responsibility and less chance to really get out and have fun.
2. Evaluate and Re-evaluate: It doesn’t matter what your major is or what you always said you wanted your career to be. Every college student should do some form of self-evaluation before they graduate to prevent them from committing to a career that doesn’t fit them.
3. Plan to plan: What this means is to sit down and make a small schedule for your last semester. This will help you complete the small steps towards your ultimate life plan. If you plan on getting a job right after college, start sending out resumes a few months before graduation. If you plan to go to Grad school set up a schedule so you don’t miss any deadlines.
4. Don’t Rush: While planning for the future is very important, taking your time and following your heart is even more important. As, I stated above you should do some form of self-evaluation. However, this evaluation is not always to figure out whether you’re choosing the right career but whether you have the right timing.  Who, knows you could come to find out that it would be in your best interest to travel the world after college?

You can follow the guidelines above, or create a survival guide of your own. No matter how you choose to do so, curing yourself of the quarter life crisis is a much needed investment. After all the last thing you should be doing on your graduation day is dreading the future.

Britany is a senior Applied Communications major at Kent State University. She is an Internet addict, facebook junkie, compulsive twitterhead and obsessive blogger. Contact Britany at bruby@kent.edu.