As graduation approaches, many seniors will find themselves in Dr. Patricia Chastain’s office looking for career advice.

Chastain, the student employee coordinator for Career Services, recommends that students find their own path after graduation.

“For students close to graduation, they should find out what works for them as individuals and not what is expected,” she wrote in an email.

While seniors can enjoy that that freedom of choice with their future, the uncertainty of what they will do after graduation can be unsettling and stressful.

Senior management and marketing Major Nikita Dhoubhadel thinks that seniors can plan every hour, minute, and second of their life but still fall short of all the hopes and dreams they had for the future.

“Uncertainty had a great advantage of leaving open with room for spontaneity, but not for my piece of mind and sanity,” Dhoubhadel wrote in an email.

But Dhoubhadel has a few tips to make graduation less stressful.

“You know a really good friend of mine used to ask me how to find balance in life and manage time effectively,” Dhoubhadel wrote. “I always told her that, ‘I really don’t know what you want to hear from me because there are so many ups and downs a person has to go through in one’s college career to be the person you think your freshman self-wanted to be.’”

Senior and history major Rebecca Norris wrote in an email that she’ll stress over graduation until it’s over.

“I just take one day at a time.” Norris wrote in an email. “This is an awesome time to be in school; after all I worked hard for it. After Wesleyan, I plan on attending graduate school at University of North Texas to work on masters in library information sciences.”

Chastain wrote in an email that the majority of seniors about to graduate have come to her office in search of their next step.

“They often need help with resumes or job searching but also counseling on what they can do with their major or to even start the process of how to begin their future,” Chastain wrote.

Chastain wrote that students shouldn’t just stick with the title of their degree, but should search outside the box.

“Every organization needs every type of person. So don’t let your major limit your search for your next career,” she wrote.

Chastain also wrote that every senior is going to feel stress. For every senior, stress is going to come at some point in the process.

“It’s hard to look for a career and it’s a full-time job,” Chastain wrote. “But I also advise them that if they do what they love, it won’t seem like a job.”