Life After Bryn Mawr Open Session Poster
Life After Bryn Mawr is holding open sessions for any and all graduating seniors! Members of the LABM Committee will be there to answer any questions you have about post-grad life and will have resources about a variety of topics, including:
As we rapidly approach the end of the semester, here are the events we will be holding during Senior Week 2017. Stop by any of these events to learn about particular topics that may apply to your life after Bryn Mawr!
Can you pay my bills? Budgeting & basic financial mindfulness after BMC
Dorothy Vernon Room, New Dorm Dining Hall
12-1PM
May 8
“Can you pay my bills? Budgeting & financial mindfulness after BMC” will explore how to proactively think about your finances after graduating, including how to budget within your salary, how to save money, how to assess spending priorities etc. The content of this session will primarily come from first person experience, shared by current young staff members, as well as tried and true best practice tips. We will also be providing you with online resources to peruse as you start to piece together what your post-grad spending will look like.
Life After the Meal Plan
Dorothy Vernon Room, New Dorm Dining Hall
12-1PM
May 9
Bryn Mawr College Dining Services Assistant Director, Richard Clow, will provide tips on how to equip your kitchen, resources for cookbooks and healthy eating on a budget!
Keep checking back to hear about more interesting events happening in Spring 2017 that will help inform you about Life After Bryn Mawr!
Apartments, Roommates, Landlords: Finding Housing after BMC
12-1PM in DVR
April 10
Join members of the Life After Bryn Mawr (LABM) Committee to learn how to navigate finding housing in your post-grad life. Learn the dos and dont’s about roommates and landlords as well as some tips to keep in mind while searching for housing!
Post Grad Life Planning Sessions
2-4 PM in Campus Center Mezzanine (2nd level)
April 2, 9, 16, 23
Every Sunday in April (except for April 30), we will be holding post-grad life planning sessions in the Campus Center Mezzanine from 2-4PM. These are meant to be informal opportunities where you can talk to members of LABM and plan out your post-grad life. The Career Peers will also be having walk-in hours, so feel free to bring any materials, questions, concerns,etc.
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.
During the Volunteer Summit weekend on October 2-3, 2015, Mawrters past were asked: “What are three things you wish you knew before graduating?” We received some wonderful words of wisdom, so click here to check them out!
Having handwritten notes from alumnae/i is really special and we are sure current Bryn Mawr seniors and other recent graduates will appreciate them. Here are several options for how to do this:
Click on the image to download and print your postcard!
“There are always opportunities to learn something new, even when you are starting out in a first job doing ‘grunt work’.”
“True love doesn’t feel like fireworks – it is more like finding a comfortable sweatshirt that you never want to take off!”
“Life is a marathon – not a sprint – enjoy the scenery while you run.
“How do you not get disenchanted with the real world/your job?”
“How do you make friends in a new city?”
“How do you not come back to East/West after graduating?”
“Rather than making up a budget, take really good notes about expenses in your first six months, then evaluate your capacity from there.”
“Don’t be afraid to cook larger meals than what you can eat – use your freezer to stock up!
“Men feel threatened by smart women and we need to LEARN how to operate in male professions.” (#1)
“The world didn’t have the honor system – ‘trust but verify’ everything.”
“The more BMC friends you learn here with, the bigger the army will be when you get in trouble because of #1 above.”
“Go to alumnae events in your town, find alumnae of all ages wherever you travel – they will always welcome you.”
“Your GPA is irrelevant, being a Bryn Mawr alumna is what you’ll be known as, embrace it for the great life it will bring you.”
“You don’t have to love or like your first job.”
“Living with a roommate is a great way to not be lonely! Plus it’s easier to figure out bills/life.” “People who didn’t go to BMC may not understand your relationship with your alma mater. That’s okay!”
“There’s no shame in living with your parents.” <- “Real!”
“Be adventurous and take risks.”
“You don’t need to have it all figured out.”
“You are brilliant and have earned an education that will serve you exceptionally well in everything you do.”
“Have internships/externships starting freshman year.
“Work first after college not grad school.”
“Companies will pay employees to go to grad school.”
“Start cultivating professional relationships beginning in freshman yr thru LinkedIn.”
“Alumnae will go out of their way to help you – find them via any means and reach out.” Hannah Smith
“How much intelligence there is in the body – there’s much more than the mental plane!” Sara Synder 1986