IIt will be over in a few days. That was foreseeable for a long time, but it still surprises again and again how quickly it happens in the end. I’ll be a student until January 31st, then I’ll have a certificate in my hand that should signal to myself and others: Ready for the big life! I would say that is the case. That such a certificate is more than just a piece of paper. Studying gives you skills that you can put to good use in life.
And I deliberately don’t mean thermodynamics, Kafka exegesis or accounting. Sure, that’s important too. But beyond the technical training, the course equips you with tools that you can use anywhere. Problem-solving thinking, time management or stress resistance, you learn all this in the lecture hall and in the student residence. It may sound trite, but that’s the way it is. Anyone who writes numerous exams in a few weeks at the Bologna University, gives presentations on the side, prepares homework and has a mini-job must be able to organize themselves. You only have to look back: things didn’t go as well in the first semester as they did in the last.
So if I hold my certificate in front of a potential employer, he can at least be sure that I have staying power and don’t give up easily in difficult situations. That’s something! And the corresponding skills also help in private situations. When I sometimes think I can’t do something, I think back to my first semester. I did the silliest thing of my life there: memorized a few hundred pages of marketing script. Word by word. There was a 1.0 for that. Congratulations! When I’ve done one piece of nonsense like that, I can do something else.
The testimony comes at the right time
I wouldn’t learn the script word for word today. why? Two days later you’ve forgotten everything anyway. And sometimes less effort is enough for a good yield. That’s how you get smarter over time. Because that is what is really remarkable about the university: it is a forge of transformation. You go in as a teenager with child support entitlements and come out as an adult with tax filing obligations.
And not only business administration lectures are involved in this, but also the whole rest of life. You move out of your parents’ house into your first flat share, have hardly any money in your account and still want more than gourmet filet Bordeaux. There is that student party where you drink too much beer and suddenly this question pops up in your head again: where to go with me? Afraid of the future. That’s why I don’t feel like dancing. That’s all part of it. I don’t want to say that it’s really different at the end of your studies, but you can deal with it better. And that’s why my testimony comes at the right time. I have the feeling that I am now capable of tackling new things.
By the way, as a final semester master’s student, university doesn’t make it particularly difficult to graduate. You sit in the canteen and realize that you no longer really belong to the community of destiny of the still inexperienced. Even the fashion of the others shows who still has the whole exciting study period ahead of them. The canteen now looks like it does on TikTok. When I was a freshman, all of us students were still on Facebook – and not just the boomers like today. How the time flies! In the meantime, I’m thinking about how to proceed: the world of work or a doctorate? Not an easy question. It is still unclear which paths will open up. The savings are enough for a few months of uncertainty. But I do know one thing: there is no reason to panic. Not even if there is more gourmet fillet. And cheers to your studies!
