Monica Roberts’ office is backed up almost all year. But around this time, the people become a little more hectic and the meetings a bit more frantic.

With 37 days until graduation, Roberts, Syracuse University’s assistant director at the Center for Career Services, still sees those students who have come all year, inquiring about job openings, rsum formats, cover letters, etc. But as students start experiencing the last stages of senioritis, Roberts also meets students beginning to start the process.

‘There’s about six weeks left until graduation,’ Roberts said. ‘So if you’re just starting now, you’re behind.’

Senioritis is starting to set in for students. It means school is nearly over and the real world awaits. It means no more boozing on weekdays, waking up in a hall without pants on, eating canned cheese for breakfast, sleeping until dawn on Fridays, wearing a T-shirt and sandals, waiting days between showers or displaying liquor bottles as paraphernalia.

It means seniors will soon have a job, responsibility, bills, perhaps even an office. It means, for many, time to panic.

‘This part of your life is coming to an end,’ Roberts said. ‘You’re scared about what the next step is. It’s a fear of the unknown.’

In fact, senioritis is a two-pronged disease (a fake disease, but still a disease). First, seniors realize they have one year left of college and decide to make the most of it. Then, around this time, they realize their yearlong vacation of sorts will soon end. Quickly, alarmed seniors fret.

For some, it’s because they’re leaving behind an unsurpassable lifestyle: Little responsibility, lots of fun. For others, it’s because they’re leaving behind friends. Some fear entering the real world.

Still, numbers support a potentially smooth transition. Each year, SU sends out a packet to its graduated seniors to find out how many are employed. For the class of 2003, among a 55 percent response, 89 percent are working full time. From 2002, with a 44 percent response, 90.5 percent were working full time.

‘Those are really good numbers,’ Roberts said.

Numbers from the class of 2004 aren’t yet available, since SU is still compiling its report.

Many are still scared, though, of the real world. So some seniors may decide to attend graduate school rather than find a job.

Jay Warren graduated from SU last year with a degree in bioengineering, and is now at Arizona State graduate school studying the same thing.

How badly did Warren suffer from senioritis last year?

‘Fairly badly,’ he says.

‘Just how many days a week can you go out to bars?’ Warren said. ‘Tuesday night is beer tour. Wednesday is flip night. Thursday was downtown with friends. Friday is happy hour.’

Warren only had classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays during fall semester, and only on Wednesdays during spring semester. But unlike others, Warren planned to go to grad school since his sophomore year. It wasn’t a tool to delay the real world.

‘It was probably around the middle of senior year (I got senioritis),’ Warren said. ‘You start to realize you’re gonna graduate soon.’

It’s a position in which many current seniors find themselves.

When Tim Chanoux, a senior economics major, returned from Spring Break, he realized it was his last.

Now, weeks later, he hasn’t found a job and doesn’t have specific post-graduation plans. And knowing college will soon end makes it worse.

‘I think the thing I’ll miss the most is being around people my age all the time,’ he said. ‘Living next door to people my age, knowing I can go over there any time and know they’re going through the same experiences I am.’

Chanoux prepared somewhat for graduation, attending career fairs in the fall.

‘But I could have done a lot more,’ he said. ‘My parents are being really cool, though. They’re giving me a window of time to find a job.’

Even seniors with post-graduation plans, like Nick Ransohoff, a television, radio and film major who will intern in Northern California this summer, feel nostalgic. Among his friends, it’s a common feeling.

‘Absolutely,’ Ransohoff said about whether people he knows are experiencing anxiety about graduating. ‘Everyone’s freaking out.’

Unlike Ransohoff, though, many seniors have no post-graduation plans. Some don’t even take the basic steps Chanoux took, like attending a career fair.

Reasons vary. Some have been so busy catching up with classes (if they change majors, transfer in, etc.) that they had no time to start the job search. Others simply postpone thinking about their post-graduation plans because they hope to enjoy college as long as possible.

‘For those students, we try to give them a realistic perspective for where they are right now,’ Roberts said.

Some might not be in tremendous trouble. Jobs like those in the communications field are usually found suddenly. As a job opens up, it is filled.

‘It’s not a recruitment field,’ Roberts said.

Other careers, like business, have recruiters come year-round trying to find potential employees. For students majoring in business who haven’t started networking, the consequences are more severe.

Roberts suggests students start the process sooner.

‘Whether that means exploring majors, joining student organizations to build skills or searching for internships, I think everyone (including underclassmen) can do something related to their careers,’ Roberts said.

And for seniors joining the game late?

‘Get to the career counselors now,’ Roberts said. ‘Take advantage of all resources on campus to create a plan.’

Career Services even helps students focusing on seemingly jobless majors (sociology, philosophy, psychology, etc.) By assessing a student’s interests, skills and values, among other things, the center creates options.

‘We have a lot of employers who are interested in sociology majors, or philosophy majors,’ Roberts said, ‘because of the basic skills that come along with a liberal arts degree.’

Seniors must face reality soon enough. Roberts says those who do sooner are usually better for it.

‘We have a fair share of students who are just coming to us now,’ Roberts said. ‘Every year at this point in time, it’s a trend. We get the seniors who are just getting started. And they’re scared, because they haven’t done anything.’

Most, though, realize they need to start appreciating their dwindling collegiate days.

‘Today I didn’t even go to class,’ Ransohoff said, ‘because it was so nice out. I don’t care about classes on a day like this. I just wanted to enjoy the day.’

Published on April 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm