Features After the Grad Rush

opfeatures@gmail.com

A student's thoughts and ramblings on her last week as an undergrad

By Frieda Luk, The Ubyssey (University of British Columbia)

VANCOUVER (CUP)—The final weeks of school have always been unforgivingly torturous. The defining moments of academia lie within these few weeks when lethargy wages an all out war with motivation. Yes, it is incredibly unfair to be saddled with existential conflict at a time when the work actually matters and when the caf- feine-propelled cramming sessions might not pass muster. Punctuated by fits of mental paralysis, the last semester before graduation is probably the best test of academic mettle—do you have what it takes to care?

Graduation angst

This time of year is generally a period of transi- tion that opens a wellspring of pent-up concerns about career options, family, and identity—and here I’d thought I’d already dealt with them as an angsty teenager. Remember days of mooning over how you were going to pay for post-secondary education, what you were going to do with the degree, and how to define yourself once you were no longer a Greek life die-hard or the vice-presi- dent of the Mongolian tango club? Well, when it comes time to graduate those issues are going to come back and bite you in the arse.

Being a soon-to-be graduate feverishly trying to get it together for the last two weeks of school, I am not sure if ’'m making headway or just floundering uselessly in frustration.

Apparently I am not so alone. According to Whitney Sedgewick, a counsellor at UBC, this crucial period in the final days of undergrad is merely a the process of a giant “life shift” from being a coddled undergrad to a self-sufficient, functioning member of society.

Sedgewick notes the problem is simply not knowing; the great wide world out there is gener- ally an “unknown” which I envision to be a gap- ing black hole. She suggests that a little bit of planning can diminish the stress to some extent. She also suggests that talking about the problems might alleviate them. I have certainly done my share of emoting and shamelessly courting sympathy.

The future is certainly an unavoidable topic. However much I want to stop thinking about it, there is someone who will ask the dreaded what are you going to do with your life question. In short, I don’t know. I don’t really want to think about it either.

I appreciate people taking an interest in my life, but I urge them to frame the question in a way that does not sound like some unalterable defining life choice that will be

* chained to me for the next 20 years. I am excited about ‘graduation and the challenges ahead, but my biggest fear comes from not having a concrete plan.

We're all in this together

Ken.Little, a microbiology student, is also feeling the heat. It’s the story of “I’m so stressed”, “I don’t know where I am going”, and “I need to at least get decent marks” that we all know so well. For those fortunate enough not to be _ familiar with this trifecta of emotional responses, it is an unrelenting and motivation-crippling psychological taunt.

_. The other end of the spectrum is represented by the calm, collected, strangely zen-like detachment of Persia

Sayyari, a political science student and volunteer at the UBC Wellness Centre. She’s enjoyed her stint at UBC, learned valuable moral truths, and feels she has gotten a lot out of her BA. Good for her. Perhaps due to her work at the Wellness Centre or some rare genetic gift, she seems to have a rather practical way of dealing with the stress.

She tells me that it’s all about time management, more precisely a “new” way of conceptualizing time manage- ment. Sayyari explains that it is necessary to slot things into four categories: not important/not urgent; not impor-

tant/urgent; important/not urgent, and important/urgent.

“The new mentality,” she points out, “emphasises pri- oritising and not completing a to-do list”.

On a similar note, Sedgewick recommends teasing out the problem, distilling them to their constituent elements and then clarifying and prioritising those elements in your life.

For me, the problem is not so much about time man- agement, but finding the resolve to work my way through a schedule. I recently had a talk with a friend of mine who

seemed to be all set for graduation: grad school acceptance

and a summer job lined up. He seemed pretty laid back about the whole deal, which I took to be due to having a plan. He feels he has gotten pretty much all that he can from UBC, and is “itching to get out.”

Although the future doesn’t seem so foreign, he says dealing with finishing two 20-page papers is still frustrat- ing. It’s the onset of lethargy—staring at the computer screen, unable to concentrate save for downloading music and generally wasting time. Been there, done that.

Help, on the dole

The Arts faculty seems to be taking notice of the tremen- dous pressures facing fourth-year students. They recently instituted the Arts Peak program that aims to provide a happy and encouraging send-off to graduating students in the faculty. According to Susan Dunnet of Student Development Services, the Arts Peak program is supposed to mirror the kind of community-building and guidance activities provided for first-year students. With memories of T-shirts, team chants, and icebreaker activities of Imagine UBC still fresh in my mind, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that level of perkiness. Fortunately, the events that the Arts Peak instituted turned out to be fairly sedate but no less thought provoking.

I attended a session called the Next Big Year that focused on working internationally. The talk provided solid career options that fuelled the inner wanderlust. But probably the most impressive por- tion of the program was the Last Lecture, in which Peter Mansbridge of CBC National fame gave a speech about Canada’s role in the world and how us graduating students fit in to the grand scheme of things. After listening to the questions from stu- dents that centred on career advice, I realised that not that many people had a plan.

So in the course of this mini-journey of self-dis- covery, my biggest worry is career-related. What am I going to do with my life? I obviously can’t avoid it forever, and perhaps checking out career services is the right way to go. I am still feeling mildly psychot- ic, but able to cope. I have pinpointed my problem and I am taking prioritising measures to ease the stress because, as Dunnet remarks, “You can never quell the nervousness; it’s something students always go through.”

But most importantly, not all hope is lost because UBC provides a sense of support behind you. Sedgewick thinks that UBC does a pretty good job with providing students with resources to deal with this tumultuous period. She likes that fact that the University does not embody a paternalistic approach in doling out help. Sedgewick maintains that there is no blanket approach and specific resources in counselling, career services, financial services, and graduate studies “can be found with a little bit of sleuthing,”

Although graduating is still unsettling, I am thrilled at the prospect of freedom. Hopefully that freedom doesn’t equate to minimum wage at McDonald’s. Regardless, I have leeched what I needed from UBC: attended interest- ing classes, conversed with interesting professors, critically analysed all sorts of things, and appropriated massive amounts of knowledge. No one can take that away from me. With a degree to back me up, I feel naively invincible and able to take any kind of shit the world throws my way. I hope that feeling lasts. I am reminded by a friend that the world is indeed my oyster and graduation proffers us the opportunity to ponder the following question, sagely posed. by Sayyari: “At the end of the day, this is my life, so how do I want to spend it?”