15 Things Nobody Thinks To Tell You About Leaving University

Go to university, they said. Get a degree, they said. It'll be "fun" when you leave it all behind, they...well, they forgot to warn us about some things.

1. You probably won't fall straight into a job.

Universal

Unfortunately, that's just how it is. Thousands of people have graduated at the same time as you, which means thousands of people are looking for the same jobs as you. You're pretty great, sure, but you're probably gonna have to be unemployed for a while first.

2. If you do, there's more chance of it being an internship because nobody will take you without experience.

MTV

The circle of wanting to get hired for experience but needing experience to get hired is hell on Earth. A lot of people dream of leaving uni and walking straight into their ideal setup. Unfortunately, you've got a lot of working up to do – you're not going to be Anna Wintour two days after leaving third year.

3. Or you'll continue full-time at your part-time job.

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Plenty of people leave university and end up going full-time at the place they worked while studying. It doesn't seem like such a bad idea at the time, and it's not. Just make sure you're not that person who lets their degree rot on the mantelpiece while they slave away in a retail stockroom.

4. The first job you land in may not be the job you initially wanted.

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Some people just fall on their feet after uni and it doesn't feel fair, but such is life. If you've got to go and pull pints and shift barrels for £7 an hour to get money, you get to working, sister. Ain't nobody got themselves out of a hole by wallowing in it.

5. It also might not have anything to do with your degree.

Comedy Central

In fact there's a pretty big chance it will have nothing to do with anything that you were studying. You studied English? You're hired as an accountant. You cried over chemistry? You're hired as a sales executive. It doesn't make sense, but then neither does life.

6. Money will become an even bigger deal.

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At uni, you can coast by on student loans and part-time jobs. With no student loan, your bank balance will look the bleakest. Growing up sucks, but unfortunately you can't keep that "Let's spend rent money on vodka-oranges" uni attitude.

7. You'll probably be at the wrong end of your overdraft.

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You're a goddamn miracle if you leave uni having not maxed that out. Like literally, you may as well have been Moses and parted the Red Sea, because it's on the same kind of miracle level.

8. You might possibly definitely have to move back home.

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When you first move out and wave goodbye to your mother from your halls bedroom window, most people think, That's it, never will I ever have to live at home again. The sad fact is that this is rarely a reality. After three years of student debt, it's best to tuck your tail between your legs and head off back to Mummy.

9. Real friendships will be tested because you no longer live a hop, skip, and a jump away from each other.

ABC

When you're at uni and your best buddy lives in the bedroom downstairs, it's easy to think this friendship is for life. But it's when you both move to opposite ends of the country that you start to realise who your friends are.

10. You won't be able to drink every day of the week any more.

Universal

Well, it's not that you won't be able to, it's that it's heavily frowned upon / a fireable offence to arrive at work stinking of booze, unfortunately.

11. Hangovers will start to steadily creep up on you.

20 Century

Do you want to know how you never got hangovers in university? YOU GOT TO LIE IN BED ALL DAY WITH NO RESPONSIBILITY WATCHING RERUNS OF FRIENDS! When you're a grown-up, you've unfortunately got duties to take care of. When you get up at the crack of dawn after a skinful, that's when the hangovers will begin to show their faces.

12. A lie-in? What's that?

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At uni, getting up at 9:50 for a 10am lecture is classed as the crack of dawn. But in the adult world, you need to be prepared to never understand what a lie-in is again. Monday to Friday? It'll be a miracle if you can stay in bed until 8am.

13. Bank of Mum and Dad is officially closed. Kind of.

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While you're at school, it's the duty of Mum and Dad to look after you, and when you're at uni they swear blind it has to stop but continue to fund you anyway. When you leave university, you no longer have a leg to stand on when it comes to begging your parents for money. You're basically an adult now, responsible for making your own money. But sometimes, when you're in the darkest hole of overdraft debt, they'll chuck you a tenner.

14. Responsibilities are actually hella real and not at all fun.

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OK, this is common sense, but when you're living the life of Riley, you forget what responsibility is and how much of a drain it is on your entire life. Rent? Bills? Feeding yourself on something other than Super Noodles? It's a hard life, tbh.

15. People will constantly ask you what you plan on doing with your life now, even though you don't have a damn clue.

HBO

It's a question that starts when you're back in school, when you're 16 and everybody expects you to reel off a 40-year life plan. After university, especially if your parents don't understand why you went in the first place, the only question you will ever get asked is what you're going to do now. Of course, you can tell them it's none of their business, but that basically means you have no fucking clue, which is probably true.

And guess what – THAT'S OK!

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You don't need to know everything just yet. You've just left uni, you have the world at your feet, and ~anything~ is possible. So who cares if you don't know what you want to do yet? That's the fun part, and it delays being an adult just that little bit longer. And that, ladies and gents, is something they don't tell you at uni either.