Life Before Noon: A Millennial’s Manual

Editor’s Note: This post is by Jaclyn Schiff who lists her take on the pros and cons of post grad life. Jaclyn is a writer/media specialist based in Washington, D.C. She blogs about Generation Y-related issues and trends at The Schiff Report.

For college seniors who are about to graduate and join the workforce, the uncertainty that accompanies the end of college life and the start of young professional life can be pretty intense. There are a lot of positive things about being in the “real world,” and there’s also a lot of not-so-good stuff. But one thing’s for sure, after you start working full-time you’ll think about the movie Office Space in a whole different way.

So what can a new grad expect? I’ve been talking to friends about the BEST and the WORST things about life in the working world. The lists that appear below are my version of the consensus.

The Good:
5) No papers, no exams, no homework. EVER. When you leave the office at the end of the day, you’re DONE. Unless of course you decide to go back to school. Then you’ll be stuck studying while everyone is at #4.
4) Happy Hour! There’s nothing like drink specials to take the edge off the day. And grabbing drinks with friends after work is way cooler than drinking badly brewed beer in your buddy’s dorm room.
3) No more esoteric lectures and annoying professors. You never have to force yourself to sit through lectures about the history of Russian Czars or the sociology of the fork in the Elizabethan era again.
2) Implementing what you’ve spent your whole life learning. You’ve spent all these years in school learning things that will help you contribute to society. Now you get to implement all that theory at work.
1) Disposable income!! Yes, the two exclamations marks are deliberate. Odds are you won’t be making mega bucks immediately after college, and you’ll probably have some debt to pay off as well. But, you’ll also have more cash in your pocket to spend on whatever you want. I don’t need to explain why that’s a beautiful thing.

The Bad:
5) Weekends don’t start on Thursdays. Some weeks you’ll forget this rule. And boy, you’ll pay for it on Friday morning.
4) Bad jobs usually last longer than bad classes. Unless you’re REALLY lucky, you probably won’t love your first job and you’ll just have to suck it up. Probably for more than six months.
3) More responsibility. You’ll find yourself talking to other people about health insurance and other topics that previously made you snore.
2) No more summer vacation. Yeah, that’s it. It’s over, unless you teach.
1) Working 9-5. Actually, if those are your hours, you’re pretty damn lucky. Almost everyone I know works more than that. But the point is that your days will be less flexible. You get up, go to the same office EVERY day. No sleeping in during the week. There’s just way less variety, it’s not so fun.

Shocked about these lists? Think something was left off? Want to elaborate? Feel free to comment.