Over the last few months leading up to the start of my ultimate semester, the impending doom of graduation has led me to question every decision I have ever made over the course of my undergraduate career. 

Do I have enough credits? Should I have gotten an internship? Did I pick the right major? It might be a little late to think about changing my major. Was I involved enough on campus? What the hell am I going to do after graduation? 

This question keeps me up at night. For someone whose college years truly have been the best of my life, my main anxieties revolve around what comes next: employment, adulthood, life.

I should be excited about pursuing a career, establishing my professional persona and making my own decisions. Instead, the thought of graduation is bittersweet. 

On one hand, I am full of Hofstra pride in the knowledge that I have successfully completed two bachelor’s degrees in four years, discovered what I am passionate about and made friendships that will last a lifetime; but on the other hand, it is going to be so hard to leave all of this behind.

The start of winter break meant that I was one semester closer to facing this impending doom. Once I had finished my finals, returned my textbooks and packed the car, I started the unreasonably long drive back to Rochester, New York – even though I live in the same state, it takes me almost seven hours to get home. 

I made it back to the Flower City before dark, where I was greeted by my adorable dog and a long-awaited home cooked meal. Despite having just come off of a 17.5-credit finals week, my mom did not waste any time in informing me that a client of hers had an open position at her company and was looking to hire someone. 

“She’s looking for someone to work in the marketing department and I told her that you would be perfect for the job!” 

My mother knows that I am a dance and psychology double major, so why she thought I was qualified for a marketing position I will never understand. 

But considering that I am a broke college student that practically had a job handed to her, I couldn’t say no. It’s not that I wasn’t excited to gain additional work experience and learn new skills, I just was sort of looking forward to sleeping in and catching up on “Grey’s Anatomy.” 

Despite having my unmotivated plans for break ruined, I thanked my mom for networking for me and sent an email to the head of L-Tron Corporation’s marketing department.

My internship started the week after and not only did I have first-day jitters, but I was also worried about my qualifications for the job. 

I had taken a marketing 101 class to pick up some credits, but that did not prepare me for a career in marketing. I had no idea what to expect when I walked into L-Tron on my first day and I certainly never expected to love it. 

L-Tron is a technology company that specializes in data-collection products and software. Full disclosure: I am not a technology expert. I can navigate my cellphone and laptop just fine, but you will not see me writing code or creating new software any time soon. 

Despite my lack of technological prowess, my supervisors were very understanding and made sure that I understood the content that I was working on. Being familiar with data collection thanks to the research components of my psychology major, I was able to familiarize myself with the software very quickly. 

I spent my time writing award submissions, drafting blog articles, designing social media posts and learning about how to market L-Tron’s products to a target group of people. 

Psychology is all about understanding how people think and why they behave the way that they do. It was fascinating to see how closely related the study of human behavior is to managing exchange relationships through marketing. 

By understanding the nature of human thought, I was able to identify what people are looking for in a product and emphasize the features that fulfill those needs. 

Not only did I enjoy the work that I was doing, but everyone was so welcoming and friendly that by the end of winter break I felt as if I had worked there for longer than a month. I made new relationships with people and felt successful at what I considered to be my first adult job – that’s right, I was adulting. 

I felt a new sense of confidence in my abilities, which replaced some of the anxiety I had felt before I embarked on the break. I’m not saying that this experience put my mind completely at ease, but I felt lighter knowing that my hard work was valuable and that my presence mattered.

For my fellow apprehensive seniors, know that you are not alone. Some of us don’t have things all figured out, but there is nothing wrong with a bit of uncertainty. 

Keep an open mind, work hard and be confident in your ability to accomplish great things. Your degree and your individual talents are worth so much more than you realize. 

We are smart, we are capable and we are ready to take on the not-so-terrifying world post-graduation.