The end of my final semester of university is quickly approaching. I started my Bachelor of Business Administration undergraduate degree back in 2012 which is five years ago! It has been a five-year journey filled with anxiety, ups and downs and life-changing experiences. But as I approach the final semester of my BBA degree I am filled with bittersweet emotions. If you haven’t been in this position before or if you have, I thought I’d share my personal emotions with you (which I never do).

So as I finish off my last semester, here are three things that are running through my mind.

After speaking with many former students, it is clear that one of the most common emotions you feel once you graduate from school is nervousness. Personally, I am nervous because I am starting the next chapter of my life and I hope everything will work out. I understand that being nervous about the future is normal because when it comes to making huge decisions to start the next chapter of your life those decisions really matter. But honestly, my goal once I graduate is to not let my nervousness hold me back from pursuing my goals. I don’t want to take the “safe” route because the future is unclear. I want to pursue opportunities that will help me grow, experience new things and get me one step closer to living my dreams.

One of my biggest emotions, as I approach graduation, is the fear of the unknown. I am still not sure what I want to do once I graduate, what opportunities I want to pursue and how I want to design my life. I trust that I will figure out everything in time but for the meantime, I am fearful of the unknown because failure is obviously a possibility. I understand that some of the decisions I make once I graduate might not work out but that’s fine. Failure and unpredictable events are a part of life and I know that shouldn’t make me fearful or scared for the future. Additionally, I realize that fearing the “unknown” isn’t all bad because I know it will force me to think and make decisions based on critical thinking and not solely based on emotions.

Lastly, I am so excited to finally graduate from Sheridan College and receive my BBA. It has been five years since I started my post-secondary degree and it has been one hell of a journey. I transferred to Sheridan after doing two years at a different BBA program and I have had experienced many difficult situations throughout my five years of school. Honestly, I have fought many battles over the last five years and no matter how difficult things got, I never gave up on myself.  Additionally, for me graduating is a huge achievement because I never found school “easy”, I have always had to work my ass off!

So looking back at all of the challenging experiences that I faced throughout my undergraduate degree, it is a relief to finally be near the end. This undergrad is definitely the end of an era where I learned a lot about myself, pushed through life’s challenges and found some of my greatest passions.  Thus, I am so excited to get out there in the real world and crush it doing the things I love!

It’s official I am at the end of my undergraduate degree but this isn’t the end of my educational journey. Although I might decide not to do a masters program in the future, I will never stop learning. Education has helped me grow as a person and accomplish my goals, thus I am excited to see what learning experiences await me in the future.

The next chapter of my journey starts now and I am looking forward to living the Canadian dream!

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