On November 30th, five recent graduates returned to Bryn Mawr to give advice about post-grad life to the Class of 2017. For those who missed it, we’ve compiled a summary of some of their words of wisdom about their experiences after graduation.

Our wonderful panelists: Bailey Cavanaugh ’15, Airen McClure ’16, Swetha Narasimhan ’15, Miriam Doepner ’16, and Frankie Leech ’16.

Life Balance

Balancing all of our many obligations is still a challenge after graduating, but our panelists noted that they’ve found it easier, in some ways, since leaving Bryn Mawr. They recommend being proactive and finding ways to be social and try new things that you might have been too busy to do in college.

“Get a hobby. Get lots of hobbies. It’s harder to be social but it’s important to find ways to be productive in ways that you might never have had a chance to.”

Self-Advocacy

Several alums described experiences of having to evaluate job opportunities and decide whether they were a good fit. There can be a lot of pressure, both external and internal, to commit to something right away, but the panelists recommended not being in a rush to decide, and to know what you’re getting into. Advocating for yourself and knowing what will be a good work environment for you takes practice but is so worth it.

“[Turning down a job opportunity] was really hard for me because I’m not super confrontational and didn’t really have to do that at Bryn Mawr, but I had to think about myself.”

Rewarding Experiences

Post-grad life can be tough but it comes with many rewards. Panelists talked about the excitement of being independent and living on their own, and about the feeling of knowing that their work and studying at Bryn Mawr had paid off. Jobs can bring new rewards as well – taking initiative to start a project that you feel strongly about and being able to take ownership of that work has been meaningful to recent grads.

“I’m actually where I want to be…it feels sort of strange to say that out loud – I didn’t expect to be here so soon.”

Advice

Some final recommendations and words of wisdom from our panel:

“Get off campus. Go spread your wings. Go do something. Just leave. It was so good to just take a breath.”

“Think consciously about what your support network is. Find ways to solidify that and be conscious about keeping in contact with people.”

“It is very normal to graduate and not have a job.”

“Use the Bryn Mawr network. You never know where you’re going to end up.”

“You will find the people who are on your team after you graduate. It may take a little time, but you will find them.”

Say no (sometimes).

Don’t settle.

Know that hard work pays off.