When May of every spring comes around, thousands – make that millions — of students around the country come to one of the most climatic part of their life, they graduate from college.

Graduating from college is a very honorable achievement but at the same time a very scary part of every young person’s life. At this time there are choices to be made whether or not to go on to the next level and get your master’s degree, or find a career right away, or possibly both.

AIC’s graduation this year is on Sunday, May 17.

For the students trying to attend master’s programs they deal with the hardship of trying to figure out a way of paying for school. Some ways that help students are GA positions (Graduate Assistance Positions). However, receiving a graduate assistance position requires a lot of planning. Usually, students have to write personal letters, resumes and have letters of recommendations ready in order to apply to a graduate assistance position.

Therefore, it is crucial for people to know what they want to do after college before they graduate.

Also, not only does graduate assistance positions require a large amount of paperwork, but in order to get the position the person must go on an interview for that specific job.

Interviews can be very stressful for people since a lot of college students have not experienced many of them before. Therefore, just the thought of going on an interview to a position that is extremely important for an individual’s future, could be extremely nerve wracking.

One AIC graduate described her experience.

“I was fortunate enough to have worked on campus as an undergraduate student, which made it easier for me to apply to a graduate assistance position later on,” said AIC graduate student Bryony Parker.

“However, even though I got the position, I still felt stressed about performing well and doing my job right,” added Parker, who is working on a higher degree in psychology.

For those students looking to get a career, they may struggle with the amount of time it may take to find a career they actually want. In a lot of cases students will get lower-end jobs just to sustain themselves in everyday life until something better pops up.

“While I wait to take my civil service exam I am still living on my own so I have to work with what I got until an actually opportunity comes up for me,”said by senior Dannie Gryszko who is a criminal justice major.

Gryszko is not the only one who struggles to find the right career path. As a matter of fact, many students do not know what kind of career they want right after college.

Because of this, it is hard for people to know whether or not graduate studies or looking for different job options is the right thing for them. As if this is not enough, many students do not have enough money to live by themselves after college, which means that most of them have to move back in with their parents. After being on their own for four years in college, it is a hard transition to move back in with their parents again.

Graduating college is a huge accomplishment. However, what many seem to forget to think about is life after college.

What is the right decision to make? Continue to study or find a job? Live with your parents or move to your own place?

There are many questions that need to be answered when it is time to graduate from college and students have to make some important decisions about their next step in life. By graduating from college, students end one chapter of their lives and start the next one – and that’s both very scary and exciting.