Lifestyle

Distant Memory: 8 Reasons Post-Grads Hate The Back-To-School Frenzy

by Alyssa Hallie
Columbia Pictures

As the late summer heat begins to coincide with the cool breeze of another September, emotions run high as we say goodbye to another fantastic few months.

Pictures of pumpkin spice lattes appear in coffee shop windows, oversized sweaters and black boots all point to one thing: back to school.

The start of school is another new year. It’s a fresh start after three months of invisibility, where you can shed the weight of any regretful experiences and create new memories with old friends.

It’s a bizarre feeling being thrown into the rush of back-to-school sales, with commercials blaring the impending start to another school year.

For those of us who are not going back to school, this frenzy is just a painful reminder of what we’re missing out on this season.

You start thinking about all the things you should have done when you had the chance.

Now that I am not going back to school (in the near future), I keep thinking about all the things I should have done when I was attending college.

Join a club sport? Sure! Become a brand ambassador on campus? Why not? Run for a seat on the board of my sorority? Too late!

When you realize a five-minute walk to your friend’s house has become a five-hour drive.

I used to live two doors down from my best friend, and now I live two states away.

No more rolling out of bed at 11 o’clock on a Saturday morning, expecting your friends to be right next door to join you for the much-needed coffee and bagel at the drop of a hat.

The days of three-hour commitments are over.

Welcome to the world of the 9-to-5 job, kids. If you’re lucky, your day will consist of more than being exiled to a cube with no windows and no human contact.

Unfortunately, for a lot of fresh-out-of-school rookies, you may spend your days trapped in what feels like a jail cell.

The "back-to-school" excuse for buying a new wardrobe is no longer acceptable.

No more back-to-school shopping sprees; that money will now be used for rent, food and necessities. It's all I've ever wanted to spend my hard-earned money on...

You no longer have a built-in safety net.

There is something comforting about knowing you have a place to be for the next nine months.

In college, you have housing, you have classes that require your time and you can get away with a lot by simply saying, “I’m an undergrad.” No more of that.

Even though there are terrible parts about leaving behind the world of undergrad, we post-grads have a lot to look forward to with the newfound freedom of a no-school commitment.

Learning no longer requires you to be chained to a chair in a lecture hall.

The end of school doesn’t mean the end of learning; it just means the end of that type of learning.

Think about all the time you will have to read books you want to read. Think about everything you will learn from your new job that will help you further your passions.

It’s pretty awesome.

No more sleeping through classes that have nothing to do with your major.

Thanks, general education requirements!

As fun as the Greek and Roman mythology class with the number one assh*le professor was, you will never again have to pretend to be interested in a topic so far removed from what you want to do.

Those requirements you needed to graduate school will no longer waste your time, and you can focus on things you are really interested in.

New city equals a new you.

Have a bit of wanderlust? School is no longer chaining you to a specific city or small town. You have the freedom to go wherever you want to go, and be whoever you want to be. Who knew?

It’s bittersweet to adventure into the next passage of life after college, and right now, it sucks to be missing out on the back-to-school frenzy. But you’ll get through September, and realize you have it better. Hopefully.