Many college students remember senior year of high school fondly ... for the most part. Midterms in December marked the end of hard work. Every weekend (and gradually, many weeknights), soon-to-be-graduates went out with childhood friends and reminisced as they prepared to move on to the next great stage in their lives.
Many current college seniors are now doing similar reflecting -- but on a far different four years.
Senior Sarah Hoffman touches on a fear of many college seniors: that of complete independence. "This year sucks," Hoffman said. "Senior year of high school, you have something to look forward to [college], but now the only thing to look forward to is growing up and going to the real world, and that is not a good picture."
Senior Elizabeth Glassman reiterated those same fears. "I'm less excited [for senior year of college] because senior year [of high school], I was so excited to come to college and for high school to end, but now I don't want college to end and I'm scared to go into the 'real world,'" she said.
Graduate Celyn Takeda (LA04) confirms some of these fears. Although he got a job after he graduated from Tufts this spring, he learned that that is simply the beginning. "While the transition from high school to Tufts was filled with anticipation, the transition to the 'real world' was characterized more by fear and dread," Takeda said.
Senior Adrienne Buckman, though, who just returned to Tufts after spending a year abroad in London, approaches her senior year of college with greater wisdom and a sense of humility. "In my senior year of high school, I thought I knew everything," Buckman said. "After four years at Tufts, I have realized that there is so much more to learn."
Senior Lauren Saft feels sentimental about both experiences, though her outlook for the future as a senior in college is less optimistic than her outlook as a senior in high school. "There will be tears at both graduations," Saft said. "In high school, I cried tears of joy to be leaving. This May, they'll be tears of sadness, fear and depression in knowing it's all downhill from here."
Saft's somewhat dark outlook on her post-graduation years isn't shared by seniors Matt Selzer and Eric Zimmerman, who don't sweat the small stuff, such as getting a job after college or appreciating their time at Tufts while it lasts. They prefer to compare their present with the past and bask in their greater honors and responsibilities.
"Senior year of college is awesome!" Zimmerman said. "I don't have to sneak beers into my parents' basement anymore."
Senior Julie Burstein has been counting down the days to the start of the school year. Her plans involve many interesting projects, and she looks forward to her experiences this year.
"After three years of college, I am not much taller, but I am wiser and older and proud of whoever it is that I am and what I mean to those who call me family," Burstein said.
Burstein sees her senior year of college as just one step on her path to self-understanding. "Where I come from, senior year of high school means getting into college: applying to college, writing resumes, getting accepted into college, picking what your future will be," Burstein said. "It doesn't matter what you want to do when you get there, but getting into college is all my friends and I could think about for a year and a half, our last years of high school."
The past three years at Tufts have taught her that there is more -- and that the important things stay the same. "Looking back, the only thing I can think of that is significant about being a senior is leaving the friends I have come to think of as family," Burstein said. "I've spent three years defining who I am. As a high school student from a small town, I had no idea. But, after three years of meeting, living with, and learning about the girls I now call my best friends, I understand that who I am so proud to have become is only as strong as the girls I have learned to show this person to."