Pressures of Graduating

mountainlover
Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:15:35 +0000

For the most part, these discussions here at CC focus on the front end of the college experience – applying to colleges and getting started in them. But we have a Senior at Yale this year and I am struck by the pressure our Senior is experiencing about what to do next. Grad School is in the picture but not right away. Some friends are getting high-paying jobs with close to six figures and above.

I am concerned that the stress of so many things is greater now than it was for our child at the beginning of the college experience – stress of graduating, of a demanding academic agenda, of leaving such an idyllic college experience and of keeping up with the Joneses (an aura that seems to be part of our phone calls).

Do other parents of graduating seniors feel this and is there an even greater pressure on those graduating from the “elite” schools? Peer pressure about landing a prestigious job and/or getting into a prestigious grad program and so on. Thoughts? Advice?