As a twenty-one-year old college student, I’m well aware that I’m still living in a bubble of parental care and structured life, even though I’m encouraged to act independently and take on responsibilities of my own. Still, once I graduate (in two and a half years) I will need to deal with a monster scarier than in any horror story you can imagine: the infamous Real World. I sometimes wonder if I’ll be able to handle it. I’ve decided that there should be a specific school that teaches how to be an adult. Here are the courses I imagine:
-How to Manage Your Money 101 (a required course for the following electives: How to Be Frugal Without Being Stingy; The Bare Essentials: What Are They?; How to Take a Vacation Without Regretting it Forever; and the ever-popular How to Pay Off Your Student Loans.)
-Being Single (a required course for the following electives: How to Know When It’s Time to Break Up; How to Dump Your Partner with Kindness, Courtesy, and Minimal Ego-Damage; How to Survive Rejection; Bars, Beaches and Bowling Alleys: Meeting People; The Online Dating Scene: Going Digital)
-Tax Returns and Living Alone: Life Skills (a required course for the following electives: Leaving Home: Tragedy or Jubilation?; A Corner of One’s Own: Living with Roommates; How to Pay Taxes Without Tears; I Rented an Apartment: Now What?; Health Insurance: Step by Step; Robbers and Rapists and Muggers, Oh My – Getting Past First-Time-Out-of-the-Nest-Paranoia)
Slightly Ignorant 
I graduated almost 2 years ago…and the real world is still scaring me everyday. Wish these courses were real! Haha.
When my sister graduated from college I bought her The Girls Guide to Absolutely Everything. Probably not all of your courses covered but helpful tips like, how to kill a cockroach, how to rock a wardrobe of 5 pieces etc. Maybe there’s been an update since she graduated!
These would all be amazing courses!
I’m afraid it comes down to life 🙂 This is my third time being a student and I think I’m enjoying this time the best. Best piece of advice I can give you ? To do exactly what you are doing and document the experience so when you have a bit more life education you don’t forget the lessons learned.
My human is seventy and he’d like to sign up for most of the same courses.
Sandy
Oh, I guess your school doesn’t offer “Not Giving Up: A Guide to Handling Rejection Without Feeling Like You’re a Waste of Space”. Mine didn’t either. 😛 I graduated in May 2011 and I have found that the Real World is not scary, just a little frustrating. The money stuff in very important, though.
Try to enjoy the last couple years of peace and security you definitely have… while you have them. Plenty of time for fret and worry later!