[wj4]

Do you keep in touch with the friends and/or close colleagues you met through out the years? I'm really curious to hear from those who have graduated a long time ago.

I got my BS in Spring of '09, and will get my MS this semester. I was a Biology major, pre med to be exact, prior to switching to a different field.

A lot of people who were Bio majors were pre med, pre dentistry, or pre pharm. I had about 5-6 friends from that major. 1 guy went to Boston for pharm school. 1 guy went to Chicago for dentistry school. 1 guy went back to Korea to do a Ph D program in something (I forgot the exact name, but it's science related). He broke up with his girlfriend of 3-4 years since he wanted to commit fully to school. 1 girl is still prepping for the MCAT.

From the major I ended up getting a BS in, Environmental & Occupational Health,....I actually keep in touch with a bunch of people.

1 girl got a great job offer in NorCal. 1 got a great offer in Texas. About 3-4 got local jobs around SoCal here, I'm actually getting a job through one of them...networking FTW!. 1 is trying to get into CDC in Atlanta.


I'm really interested to see, say in 10 years how we all turn out.

[SchlauCow]

Good post

[SchlauCow]

... but seriously... yeah, I keep in touch with most friends/colleagues I've met in college.

[pmeloche]

I graduated 26 years ago from college and we used to keep in touch regularly. But with people moving around and with families growing it's becoming ever more difficult to gather around a significant number of people. People are getting lazy with age. We barely got half the graduates for our 25th anniversary class last year.

[Feyd]

I keep in touch with the people I want to talk to via Facebook... there are a fair number of people whom I don't care to stay in touch with though, so Facebook is a really great neutralizer in that regard.

Same thing as was mentioned above. People are just really really spread out, so it's difficult to get together in person.

[LateBraking]

Mainly through Facebook, but otherwise, not really. Most of my friends were Business Economics majors like I am, but I currently work at a law firm. Took a strange deviation from my school-->work plans there.

I do keep in very, very regular touch with a college friend who works at a different law firm though.

Wait, I didn't graduate "a long time ago". Oops.

[wj4]

Originally Posted by pmeloche

I graduated 26 years ago from college and we used to keep in touch regularly. But with people moving around and with families growing it's becoming ever more difficult to gather around a significant number of people. People are getting lazy with age. We barely got half the graduates for our 25th anniversary class last year.

26 years ago? Dang, that's older than me!

Facebook can be a great tool. My oldest friend at 35 yrs old is finding old friends through Facebook. I find it funny/cool to read some of his comments like "dude, you still look the same as you did in '94!"

Personally, I quit using Facebook at the beginning of the summer as it was getting to be too time consuming. I then since got into more productive habits.

I know what you mean, about getting more difficult to gather around. I find myself having to schedule a lunch or something of that nature maybe 2 weeks in advance. (And we're just pups right now, I'm sure it will be nearly impossible, if not entirely, later on when we relocate for whatever reason).

I do wish to see how we all turn out in the future though.

[BMW F22]

I do keep in touch with them. I hang out with the ones that live around here every now and then. The ones that live far away (like in SoCal for example) I chat with them from time to time. I don't keep in touch with every single person that I talked to in college, only the ones that I actually hung out with or befriended. They are friends first and a great networking source second.

[BTM]

I keep in touch with a few people. One lives near me so we might get drinks or go downtown once a month or so, the other lives in Miami and I haven't been able to make it down there to visit but I'll talk to him on the phone every now and then.

Other than that, graduating right now fucking sucks. There's no other way to put it. Luckily I have a family business to work for and work full time and get paid decently. My friend around here has the same situation, but as far as old friends and stuff like that goes I can't even hang out anymore because too many of them have sort of given up. They got their degree their parents paid for, and sit around smoking pot playing Xbox and work 30hrs a week at Starbucks or Best Buy. It's not a pretty situation right now - we were all told how great and special we were growing up but the fact is most of us aren't. We sit around mooching off of our more successful parents and I for one don't feel good about it but for the moment it seems like we're all stuck. It's easy to say "get off your ass" or "go start a business" or "I did it - why can't you" when talking to older generations but the fact is our upbringing and the environment right now really makes that impossible. A bachelor's degree now qualifies you for what a diploma used to. We were given everything and when the time came to do something for ourselves most of the people I see just went "meh...maybe later" and left it at that.

Keep yourself surrounded by motivated and successful people and it will rub of on you - it's like the fat chicks who go and get ice cream together and complain about how they're fat. There are people who are content and people who will go out there and take it. Unfortunately, even for those people, there isn't much up for be being taken right now. What can you do? Go to grad school? Easy solution right? Go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt to get a Masters and then what if we double dip? You're fucked. Last week I was waited on by a fucking lawyer. I know a masters in sociology who makes me coffee. Sorry to sound pessimistic but I'm really not. It's not the case for everyone and may never be for a lot of us on here since I'd expect the BMW forum to be a little more successful than the fucking Dodge Neon forum but for a lot of people it is a sad reality right now.

Have fun and study hard while you can - I know I did. It's nice to go out after a long week and get wasted with your boys and really, truly believe that the world is about to be your oyster once you walk across a stage after some stupid speech and walk away with a $150k piece of paper you can frame and put on your wall - just be prepared to live at home and make 38k a year because for a lot of us that's as good as it gets right now.

[Dackz]

Yup its called facebook.

[wj4]

Originally Posted by BTM

I keep in touch with a few people. One lives near me so we might get drinks or go downtown once a month or so, the other lives in Miami and I haven't been able to make it down there to visit but I'll talk to him on the phone every now and then.

Other than that, graduating right now fucking sucks. There's no other way to put it. Luckily I have a family business to work for and work full time and get paid decently. My friend around here has the same situation, but as far as old friends and stuff like that goes I can't even hang out anymore because too many of them have sort of given up. They got their degree their parents paid for, and sit around smoking pot playing Xbox and work 30hrs a week at Starbucks or Best Buy. It's not a pretty situation right now - we were all told how great and special we were growing up but the fact is most of us aren't. We sit around mooching off of our more successful parents and I for one don't feel good about it but for the moment it seems like we're all stuck. It's easy to say "get off your ass" or "go start a business" or "I did it - why can't you" when talking to older generations but the fact is our upbringing and the environment right now really makes that impossible. A bachelor's degree now qualifies you for what a diploma used to. We were given everything and when the time came to do something for ourselves most of the people I see just went "meh...maybe later" and left it at that.

Keep yourself surrounded by motivated and successful people and it will rub of on you - it's like the fat chicks who go and get ice cream together and complain about how they're fat. There are people who are content and people who will go out there and take it. Unfortunately, even for those people, there isn't much up for be being taken right now. What can you do? Go to grad school? Easy solution right? Go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt to get a Masters and then what if we double dip? You're fucked. Last week I was waited on by a fucking lawyer. I know a masters in sociology who makes me coffee. Sorry to sound pessimistic but I'm really not. It's not the case for everyone and may never be for a lot of us on here since I'd expect the BMW forum to be a little more successful than the fucking Dodge Neon forum but for a lot of people it is a sad reality right now.

Have fun and study hard while you can - I know I did. It's nice to go out after a long week and get wasted with your boys and really, truly believe that the world is about to be your oyster once you walk across a stage after some stupid speech and walk away with a $150k piece of paper you can frame and put on your wall - just be prepared to live at home and make 38k a year because for a lot of us that's as good as it gets right now.

I think it all depends on your major as well in regard to getting a job. I worked at Circuit City during the first 2 years of my undergrad and was dumbfound as to why a coworker, who had a degree in History and was about 6 yrs older than I was, worked there and make the same wage I was.

I'm negotiating my pay right now with the company I'm suppose to work for. I'm looking for $50k and if they can't come close to that, I'm just going to go with a 1 year long internship elsewhere that pays $25/hour...up to 40 hours a week, basically full time gig.

Funny you should talk about coffee, 2 of the baristas at Starbucks got their bachelors from UCLA, in Sociology and English.

I'm not going to stop my education after I get my MS this semester though. I will continue to go get in MBA part time.

I always try to to surround myself with positive people, this is why my circle is rather small. I stopped keeping in touch with the folks I knew from high school that are not doing anything productive with their lives.

I didn't have the 'party and get wasted' party life as an undergrad. I spent the first 2 yrs messing around so much that I used the remaining time trying to fix my GPA.

I do definitely agree with you on the bittersweet of graduation though. Everyone wants to hurry up and get a job already. But once they get a job, they realize how much sweeter it was just to go to school and still have summer/winter vacations, haha.

[fwmcb]

I keep in touch with a few, you would be surprised who you keep in contact with over the years, it's never the ones you would think that you would stay in touch with. I've worked and gone to school in North America and Europe since I graduated from HS, and I still talk to the girl I met my first day out of high school!

[MCMLXXXIX]

Originally Posted by fwmcb

I keep in touch with a few, you would be surprised who you keep in contact with over the years, it's never the ones you would think that you would stay in touch with. I've worked and gone to school in North America and Europe since I graduated from HS, and I still talk to the girl I met my first day out of high school!

Im not a college grad but as a senior in college, that statement is very true. All the people I was close with are now strangers to me. I just found out that one of my close friends that Ive known since 7th grade moved out of the state. I found out through facebook. I was blown away, not just by his move, but how less I know my close high school friends now. Now Im keeping in touch more with people I didnt have a close friendship with

Ive spent my entire college life with the same 7 people. Each of us, only really know each other. We're pretty much a family. How this is gonna stand up after graduation, I dont know but its not gonna be how I expect it. 2 are already engaged with a 3rd soon-to-be, for sure. everything is already changing

[BTM]

Originally Posted by wj4

I think it all depends on your major as well in regard to getting a job. I worked at Circuit City during the first 2 years of my undergrad and was dumbfound as to why a coworker, who had a degree in History and was about 6 yrs older than I was, worked there and make the same wage I was.

I'm negotiating my pay right now with the company I'm suppose to work for. I'm looking for $50k and if they can't come close to that, I'm just going to go with a 1 year long internship elsewhere that pays $25/hour...up to 40 hours a week, basically full time gig.

Funny you should talk about coffee, 2 of the baristas at Starbucks got their bachelors from UCLA, in Sociology and English.

I'm not going to stop my education after I get my MS this semester though. I will continue to go get in MBA part time.

I always try to to surround myself with positive people, this is why my circle is rather small. I stopped keeping in touch with the folks I knew from high school that are not doing anything productive with their lives.

I didn't have the 'party and get wasted' party life as an undergrad. I spent the first 2 yrs messing around so much that I used the remaining time trying to fix my GPA.

I do definitely agree with you on the bittersweet of graduation though. Everyone wants to hurry up and get a job already. But once they get a job, they realize how much sweeter it was just to go to school and still have summer/winter vacations, haha.

Idk how much major has to do with it...I majored in economics so I'm pretty versatile which is a good thing but at the same time I know accounting majors who are basically glorified receptionists...meanwhile I'm doing accounting but that's besides the point. Now more than ever people are relying on their natural networks - it's always been the case the it's just as much "who you know" as "what you know" but in such a depressed job market it doesn't matter how much you know because very few are hiring college grads without knowing somebody. First and foremost people with experience are being hired back at 2/3 their salary.

Didn't really mean to threadjack but it's just something that's been on my mind lately...glad to hear you're having salary negotiations and the like, like I said I know not everyone is in this situation, we really are fortunate to have decent jobs. I have a lot of downtime at work since business is slow which gives me time to realize just how necessary it is to perform excellently when something comes in, as well as seeing people I grew up with that have really just turned into people I never thought they would. I'm sure some of the older members are in here rolling their eyes reading this stuff but idk, that's just what I'm seeing

[wj4]

BTM- it's all good, man. I also know a few people who went back to school for masters because they couldn't find jobs in their respective fields.

I think college matures you quite a bit. This is why I cannot hang out with friends from HS who didn't go to college. We just drifted apart. They still talk like they're in high school still.

[BTM]

Yea, running into people from HS is always interesting - once you get past the whole "what are you up to now" shit it's amazing how little you have in common with some people you used to hang out with all the time

[wj4]

Originally Posted by BTM

Yea, running into people from HS is always interesting - once you get past the whole "what are you up to now" shit it's amazing how little you have in common with some people you used to hang out with all the time

I reconnected with some friends that were close with in HS through out the years. It was cool for the first 30 minutes, but after that and the nostalgia memories....we really don't have much to talk about. It turned awkward. It's weird because these were the guys I would hang out with practically 24/7 back in the day.

Not to mention, I'm pretty sure at least 3/4 of the girls from our graduating class are pregnant by now. FYI I was only class of '03 from HS.

[montreal red]

this is what facebook is for...

but yes, keeping in touch with old friends is always good.