For years, college students count down to graduation. It represents the light at the end of late-night study sessions, exams, group projects and semesters that somehow seem to fly by and drag on at the same time.

Then graduation arrives. The day itself is a celebration. Friends and family. Commencement, and the start of a new life. Afterwards, the cap and gown go back in the closet, the congratulations slow down and the familiar routine of college is suddenly gone. Instead of worrying about the next assignment or exam, graduates face a new question: What do I do now?

For six recent Cleveland State University graduates who studied journalism, each answer has been unique. Some have landed jobs in their fields. Others are still trying to get their foot in the door. And a few have found themselves on paths they didn’t necessarily expect. Along the way, they’ve learned that life after college doesn’t always come with a plan. And that's OK.

College students spend a lot of time wishing they didn’t have class, assignments or exams. But once graduation arrives, some of the things they took for granted become the things they miss most.

For Jane Matousek, the transition out of college felt like someone suddenly cleared her calendar. 

“When I graduated, I felt like my whole life had come to a halt,” Matousek said. 

A December 2025 graduate with majors in journalism, public relations and communications and a minor in digital content production, Matousek joined Progressive Insurance’s public relations team in June. She works as a public relations representative, helping manage media inquiries and review communications content.

After spending years balancing internships, classes and extracurricular activities, Matousek said the abrupt end to the routine was difficult to adjust to. Without a semester schedule or campus activities filling her days, she had to figure out how to build a routine of her own.

She said giving herself grace and not being too hard on herself helped make the transition easier. Now, she loves her team and the organization and is proud of how she has become part of the workplace community.

But her time outside of work has also included a few accomplishments that have nothing to do with public relations.

“I’ve mastered the perfect scone recipe and have prioritized spending time with family and friends,” Matousek said. She’s also proud of her chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

Matousek isn’t the only graduate learning how different life can look without a college schedule. 

For Kirsten Kimbler, one of the biggest surprises has been realizing just how much freedom she had as a student.

Kimbler graduated in May 2026 and completed a communications internship with Cleveland Metroparks after graduation, working on its marketing team through the end of July. While there, she ran into her former supervisor from her internship at New Day Cleveland, who told her the show was hiring. Kimbler applied and got the position, starting the following week.

Now working at New Day Cleveland, Kimbler said she is proud of getting the job and putting together her first solo package, a segment she filmed and edited herself.

But adjusting to a full-time schedule has been another story.

Kimbler works from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. While having a consistent schedule sounded appealing when she was in college, she didn’t realize how much she would miss being able to run errands, make appointments or go to the gym in the middle of the day.

“I was so used to having breaks in school,” Kimbler said. “I had so much time to do things.”

During college, she could spend a nice afternoon outside studying or fit in a workout between classes. Now, she spends much of her day in an office without a window.

“Every day is like, I gotta go to the gym, I gotta make dinner, I gotta run my errands, and then I go to bed, and then I wake up, and I go back to work,” Kimbler said.

She also joked about having serious FOMO while her boyfriend is still in college.

Despite missing parts of student life, Kimbler said the connections she made during college have helped her get where she is. She credits internships, networking and staying in touch with former supervisors for opening doors she might not have found otherwise.

“I am a firm believer in the internship,” Kimbler said.

She encourages current students to attend professional events, introduce themselves to people in their field and actually follow up afterward. Sometimes, those connections can lead to opportunities much later.

Kimbler’s experience shows how internships and professional connections can pay off after graduation. But not everyone finds a job in their field right away. For some graduates, getting a foot in the door has been a much longer process.

Kodi Reynolds knows that firsthand.

Reynolds graduated in May 2026 with a journalism and public relations major focused on public relations, along with minors in digital content production and broadcasting. He entered the job market expecting to find an opportunity in his field, but the search quickly became more difficult than he anticipated.

After applying to what felt like a million of jobs without much success, Reynolds needed to find a way to pay his bills. He now works at Ohio Pie, where he has been saving money while considering a move to Chicago or another city that might offer more opportunities in his field.

“Nothing against Cleveland. They've got great opportunities if that's what you're looking for,” Reynolds said. “They just don't have what I'm looking for.”

While the job is helping him build his savings, he hasn’t given up on his original career goals. He is also rebuilding a website he created for a college class, hoping to turn it into a personal portfolio and a way to continue developing his skills.

“At the end of the day, I'm making my own experience,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said one of the hardest parts of the job search has been dealing with rejection, from submitting applications and completing interviews to sometimes never hearing back from employers.

Looking back, Reynolds said he wishes he had taken more seriously the warnings he heard about how competitive the job market could be. His advice to current students is to take advantage of internships, extracurriculars and any experience that could help them stand out after graduation.

Even experiences that don’t seem directly connected to a future career can end up being useful, he said. The job search may involve rejection, unanswered applications and unexpected detours, but Reynolds is still working toward the future he originally pictured. 

Lauren Schwan, who graduated more than a year before Reynolds, knows how discouraging the job search can become when applications don’t turn into job offers.

A December 2024 journalism graduate, Schwan spent months applying for jobs after college, including positions outside her major, but received very few responses. 

“This diminished my self-worth greatly,” Schwan said.

After her car was totaled in a collision with a deer in early 2025, she needed money and returned to the restaurant industry. She has remained in the service industry because she makes more money per hour than she would starting in an entry-level 9-to-5 position.

For Schwan, the decision isn’t simply about finding a job. It’s also about deciding what kind of life she wants to build around work.

“The time consumption in comparison to the pay isn’t worth it for me,” she said. “People don't have time to live anymore. We all are expected to work ourselves to death for an American dream that doesn't exist anymore.”

Schwan said she feels students are often given the impression that earning a degree will lead to a career, but that hasn’t necessarily been her experience.

“In grade school and even in college by professors, we were convinced that our degrees would matter,” she said. “For some, they do, but for most they don’t.”

Her biggest challenge since graduating has been another major step into adulthood: moving out on her own in July. Having never lived independently before, she said adjusting to the emotional and financial responsibilities has been difficult.

“The soaring costs of living make it difficult to gain interest in the quotidian lifestyle of a desk job,” Schwan said.

Even so, the accomplishments she is proudest of have little to do with her career. She said she is proud of her personal writing, the friendships she has nurtured and the way she has grown since graduating.

Schwan said she would tell her college self to stay in school because she loves learning, but also to make more professional connections along the way,

“The only way to get a job is with luck or by knowing someone,” she said.

She also wishes students were given a more realistic picture of the job market and what it can take to find work after graduation.

Schwan’s experience raises a question many graduates eventually face: What if the career path you imagined isn’t the one you want anymore?

Emily Ginley found herself taking a different direction after graduating in spring 2025. Rather than pursuing the career path she originally expected, she moved into sales and now works as an enterprise account executive in national construction sales.

Ginley started in an inbound position and pursued a promotion just two months later. She has been in her current role ever since.

Although she enjoys being challenged at work, balancing a full-time schedule with everything else in life hasn’t always been easy.

“My biggest challenge has been juggling everything that comes along with working a 9-to-5, or in my case, an 8-to-5,” Ginley said.

Some days, she comes home exhausted and just wants to “rot on the couch.” Other days, she makes an effort to work out, see friends, spend time in nature or do something that makes her happy.

“It's still a learning process, but one year in I've definitely found a balance that works for me,” she said.

Ginley is proud of the work it took to earn her degree, find a job and earn a promotion. She said being challenged at work keeps her motivated and gives her opportunities to keep improving.

Her advice to current students is to enjoy their time in college while they have it, but not feel pressured to follow one specific career path after graduating.

“Once you graduate, follow your gut,” Ginley said. “Truthfully, as long as you have a degree and the drive, you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.”

“You can pivot like me or chase what you worked to get that degree for!” she said.

Finding a career is only one part of figuring out life after college. For Ava Fuduric, the bigger question has been how to balance work with the personal life and future she hopes to build.

After graduating in spring 2026 with bachelor’s degrees in journalism/public relations and communications, Fuduric traveled to Croatia to visit family, attended her best friend’s wedding and began working and training with horses.

She said one of her biggest challenges has been starting a career while also thinking about the future she wants.

“I really just want to get married and have a family, but it's hard to be a homemaker when you also need a source of income,” Fuduric said.

Since graduating, she has been grateful for the opportunity to spend more time with her community, friends and family while adjusting to a new stage of life.

“I'm honestly just grateful that I've been able to adjust to this new stage of life, and to me that's an accomplishment in itself,” Fuduric said.

Her advice to students preparing to graduate is to remember that taking a break doesn’t mean falling behind.

“Rest is productive,” Fuduric said. “Stay focused and motivated, but don't burn yourself out.”

Graduation is often treated as the moment when everything starts falling into place. But for these six graduates, life after CSU has been a mix of new opportunities, unexpected detours and figuring things out one day at a time.

The classes may be over, but they're still learning what comes next.