The Real World

My column in today's Diamondback shines the spotlight on my tentative first steps toward graduating and entering the real world. It's not a smooth transition for unsuspecting students like myself, who quickly find that employers aren't just waiting to hand out fat paychecks to us so that we can plan our next exotic vacation.

An excerpt from "The Real World":

If you happen to be a pre-med student, you just might be lucky enough to stay in school until you are 35. If you are choosing to go to graduate school, you must be commended because, without people like you, there would be no one to sit in Starbucks with a laptop to use the free Wi-Fi all day.

But for the rest of you soon-to-be alumni, expect to find a vastly different world out there...

In theory, the hardest part should be whether to spend your first paycheck on Redskins season tickets or a new 60-inch plasma HDTV to watch the Redskins at home. I've found, however, that getting a job isn't as easy as switching to GEICO. It takes way more than just one quick 15-minute phone call, and contrary to popular belief, it will do absolutely nothing to help you save 15 percent on auto insurance.

Employers, with an irrational need to find "qualified" and "competent" workers, require interrogations of prospective candidates. Apparently it's not enough that I've never taken steroids, financed illicit dog fights or attempted to enrich uranium for purposes of terrorism...

Click here to read the entire column.