Author’s note: this is a refurbished older post. It’s still relevant and I’m on vacation.

For anyone who has just graduated, this advice may come too late. But if you’re still in the throes of your higher education, Lifehacker.com has a solid, reader-written list of everything they wished they’d been told before they left college for the real world. It’s a pretty long list, but contains useful tidbits nonetheless. Looking down from my worldly and wise vantage point (total crap—I’m 34 but most days I feel more like I’m 12) I can also see that a lot of the words of wisdom are correct. The picture of post-college reality I had when I was 18 turned out to be severely false.

While I was reading through Lifehacker’s article, I was wishing someone had let me in on all of this need-to-know information. I was irate for 0.7 seconds, and then I remembered the teenaged me and couldn’t imagine that charming young lady sitting still long enough or opening her ears wide enough to ever actually hear some adult’s sage advice. So for all I know, I was appropriately advised with regards to college, life, and reality and I just don’t remember.

It’s worth your time not to make the same mistake. Also, reading advice online is way less annoying than having to sit and listen to some pedantic uncle carry on about his glory days and why YOU should help him to re-live them by following in his footsteps. Or, conversely, Uncle Whatsit hates his life and whippersnapper you should follow his advice to the letter so YOUR life will be fabulous and he can finally achieve his smashing success vicariously through you.

Don’t be anyone’s puppet. Live your own life, make your own decisions and all that. But sometimes older people do have smart stuff to say (usually because they’ve screwed up hugely and have since learned from their mistakes). You can read the Lifehacker thing, pay attention to the choice bits and skip anything smacking of pedantic uncle.

A few choice bits:

“No one cares about what grades you got.”

“Learn that there are things that are very valuable and are not taught in school.”

“If you’re not ready for higher education, then travel.”

“Your major doesn’t necessarily determine your future career path.”

“Don’t get caught up in what other people want you to do.”

“Everything you just learned means nothing in the real world.”

“No matter how prepared you are for Real Life, you’re not. It’s hard, stressful, and sometimes cruel. When your parents said, ‘College was the best time of their lives’, they weren’t kidding.”

“Use your vacation…don’t be that guy.”

“Get to know something abut each of your co-workers. Even, or especially, the quiet or odd ones.”

“Never stop learning and studying.”

“Don’t be afraid to look stupid…..I’ve met plenty of people I didn’t like, but I have yet to meet anyone who didn’t have SOMETHING they could teach me about.”

“Get out there and do things. College gives you plenty of easy opportunities…”

“Real life isn’t like high school, but some workplaces are.”

“The most important skills to remember from college include how to write clearly, how to think critically, and how to get along with people who are not like you.”

“Don’t be afraid of anything.”

“It’s just a job.”

“People you went to high school with won’t matter in 2-3 years. Quit worrying about them.”

“Floss. Exercise. Like, a lot.”

“Build your own life, don’t leech off of someone else.”

“Just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you know everything.”

“Don’t get a credit card from those companies that come to campus and offer a free t-shirt if you apply. They aren’t really your friends and don’t give two craps about you.”

“Be completely honest with yourself and others, even if it means taking a risk. Tactful bluntness will carry you much further in life than telling people what they want to hear.”

“Time and time again—financial literacy.”

Posted by Alexa Harrington