Students Face Pressure Figuring Out Their Future

By: Mason Sedelmeier 

For many college students and young adults, the future can feel like a deadline. Among choosing a major, finding internships, preparing for a career, and deciding what comes after graduation, students are often expected to have a plan for their lives before they have finished figuring out who they are and exactly what they want to do. 

While college is for exploration and personal growth, the pressure to make the right decisions can make the future feel uncertain. In a 2025 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) across 80 countries, roughly 40% of students are unclear about their career expectations, which is double the number from about a decade ago. 

A 2025 polling from Gallup, the Walton Family Foundation and Jobs for the Future reflects that America’s young adults are lost in the transition from high school to the next chapter of their lives. Fewer than 3 in 10 high schoolers say they feel “very prepared” to pursue any of the postsecondary options they are interested in.

Students nearing graduation and entering the real world face these pressures. Career adviser Chris Smith said he believes that it stems from peer pressure and the media. 

“You hear it from movies and TV shows that everyone has their life figured out, but in reality, that’s just not the case,” Smith said. 

“It’s really challenging to fight those stereotypes when nobody has to have it all figured out at any point in their career.”

Cheyenne Grogean, a senior double majoring in sociology and communication, said she feels this stress as she nears graduation.

“In order to graduate, you have to have an internship and also figure out what you want to do, so I feel the pressure,” Grogean said.

“The biggest concern about life after graduation I have is being unhappy. I’m worried that I will find a job that is good enough and pays okay, but I will be stuck there and unhappy.”

To fight these uncertainties, Grogean said she plans to talk to people in her field and suggests others do the same.

“I think it’s a lot easier to be more comfortable in a job if you know people who have had experiences there, but also being willing to take that risk,” she said.

Although seniors feel the pressure of approaching graduation, sophomores and juniors can face similar expectations before they have had much time to explore their options. For students early in their college careers, considering a career can feel like the beginning of decisions that will shape the rest of their lives. As Grogean advises, seeing others who appear confident in their choices leads students to reflect on their own progress.

Brennen Tillquist, a sophomore environmental science major, said: “I definitely do compare myself to other people in that field, so I look at the example they set and try to base what I’m doing off of them. I think it positively affects my progress.”

The pressure to have a plan is not limited to one stage of education. Students at different points in their lives may experience it in different ways. However, not knowing exactly what comes next does not mean a student is behind. College provides opportunities to gain experience and discover new interests. A student’s path after graduation may look different from what they originally imagined, and that does not make it unsuccessful.

“What I’ve found through career exploration is that it’s not always about the things that we know, it’s about the things that we don’t know that we can do within a career,” Smith said.

“It’s not just about that next step after college, it could be that next next step or it can be ten steps down the road.”

For students still deciding what comes next, the challenge may not be finding every answer right away but learning how to move forward without having all of them. While planning for the future remains an important part of college, students’ experiences show that there is no single timeline for figuring out what life after graduation will look like.

“You never know fully where your career is going to lead you, which can sometimes be scary, but it’s also really exciting,” Smith said.