Good Morning Green Panda Readers.  It’s the last Tuesday in March and soon April will be here. As spring approaches our winter semester will be finished and for some students this was the last semester of their college career.  As college comes to an end it’s time to start making plans for the future.

Everyone’s college career is different and so are everyone’s plans after college. Some students may want to live out their personal dream of travelling around a specific continent or even the World, some students may decide to return to continue their studies and return school, some students may directly enter the workforce after graduation, and some students may chose to get married, buy a house, and start a family.  Each option has both advantages and disadvantages and they all have personal value.

The decisions that we make after college graduation may determine how the next few years of our lives play out.  The good thing about taking some risks right after college graduation is that we have many years to recover from them if we make a bad choice.

Travel Around the World. Making the decision to take some time off after graduation and travel may definitely be risk, but it also may be a risk worth taking. We can learn a lot about different cultures and different people when we travel and experience new things, we can also learn a lot about ourselves.  However when we make the decision to travel after graduation we may miss out on career opportunities.

If we decide to travel after graduation we also have to consider the associated costs related to our travels as well as the financial impact upon our return.  After college graduation is a good time to travel because we don’t have a lot of personal or financial responsibilities.  It is much easier to travel at a young age rather than after we are older and have the responsibility of a full time job or family.

Return to Graduate School. We may decide to return to school and continue our studies after graduation.  Some students do this because they love learning, some students do it because they want to learn something new, and some students return to school after graduation because they cannot find full time work after college. Very often a graduate degree adds value to employees who are entering the workforce.  Therefore even though a Master’s degree can be very expensive, the added value may definitely be worth the cost.

Enter the Work Force Full Time. What would it take for you to find your dream job and what is your ideal income? Very often college graduates enter the work force full time because they have to in order to pay their monthly bills, support the lifestyle that they want, and repay their student loans.  It is very rare that college students find their dream job right after graduation, however recent graduates may find a job that puts them on the right path.

Photo by Dominic’s Pics

Tahnya Kristina

Tahnya Kristina

Tahnya is 30 years old and lives in Montreal Quebec. She graduated in 2005 from Concordia University, and she currently works for a major International Financial Institution. She recently launched http://www.mediamadam.ca/. You can follow her on Twitter @TahnyaP.