So, here’s the ultimate post-grad survival kit (or at least what I’ve figured out over the last six months):

1. Stay Busy – Keep your ass moving at all times. Don’t hang out on the couch day after day, keep busy – whether it’s working a job, interning, or taking pottery classes.  Do anything that will keep you busy. I’ve thrown myself into the LSAT, and trust me, it’s kept me occupied. Who knows how I’ll feel once my LSAT journey is over, but for now … it’s what I do to keep busy. Busy leaves little room to do #2.

2. Don’t reminisce too much – If you do nothing but think about college, you’re going to do nothing but miss college. Avoid this as much as you can. If something comes up in conversation, talk about it, but don’t sit in your room and look at pictures from your sophomore year every night. It’s okay to admit that college was one of the best times of your life, but it’s not okay to let that ‘best time of your life’ define the rest of your life. You should have the attitude that the best is yet to come and college was just a stepping stone. Or yeah, you’ll be depressed like all those articles say.

3. Do something you didn’t do in college – Find a new hobby or something you didn’t participate in throughout college. For example, I have never been a runner. And I wouldn’t call myself a runner even now. But since graduation, I have clocked in many miles on the boardwalk (this is a plus of living in CA) and on the treadmill as I possibly can. My college self wouldn’t have taken the time to just run. Doing something that you aren’t used to doing shows you that more things exist than what you thought about in college. It can be anything:  take up painting, wine tastings, or knitting. Join a gym. Become a mentor. Anything you didn’t do in college.

4. Change it up – Your overall appearance probably didn’t change too much throughout college. Now that you’re a post-grad, you should definitely change something … even if it’s something small. Cut your hair. Paint your nails a color you would never wear in college (I was afraid of black nail polish in college, but now I love it). Change your style. While I don’t think you should abandon yourself from the last four years, a little update won’t hurt. It will make you feel better about yourself and it will signify this new, mature stage in your life.

5. Be serious – While you may have had an attitude that says “I don’t care” in college, it’s time to get serious about your future. You definitely don’t have to have anything figured out, but you should be serious about getting to whatever point you want in your life next. If you don’t know what you want to do (seriously, who truly knows what they want to do?), you should do everything to try to figure it out. Be serious about this. It may have been cool in high school and sometimes in college to be a slacker or to just not care , but you should be able to seriously talk about what you want.

6. Change Your Mind – In college, I had everything planned out and followed a strict routine when it came to everything –  I never changed my mind. However, the most important thing post-grad has taught me is that changing your mind can be a gift. One day, you want to intern somewhere and the next day you don’t. It may not be on the path you wanted, but you figured out why and it’s a big eye-opener. The only way to figure things out is to make mistakes and to change your mind. It sounds like something out of a self-help book, but I seriously think this has been the most beneficial thing overall.

I know I’m not the only post-grad over here at CollegeCandy, so tell me … what are your ultimate survival tips for being a post-grad?

For years, women’s participation in the United States workforce was greatly limited. However, throughout the country’s history, women have made great strides toward equality in the workforce. We even get to run blogs!

So today, in honor of the female CEOs, doctors, teachers, political figures and more, our friends from the CreditScore Blog are helping us celebrate women in the workplace.

Post-grad life is a lot about taking two steps forward only to take a step back. Some days, you feel like you’re ahead of whatever curve you’ve set for yourself and then other days, you feel like you’re falling behind. Although you have a lot more freedom and responsibility than life as a college student, the constant evolution of figuring out what to do next and what’s right is never ending.

Example: Two months ago, I scored what I considered to be my dream internship. I was meeting and interviewing celebrities, hanging out at some of the fanciest Hollywood locations, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at LA parties, frequenting red carpet events, and finding out celebrity gossip before the masses. And now, well … I decided this isn’t for me. There I go again. Two steps forward, and now that I quit, I feel like I’m one step back again. When can a girl get ahead?

In college, I feel like everything was a constant one-up. You know, where you out-do yourself and then you’re like “Damn! Look at what I accomplished.” Post-grad is more of a sporadic line graph that goes all over the place, where you have highs and lows and they fluctuate more than Lady Gaga’s outfits. While I like to think that all of this yo-yoing will get me to where I want to be, it can feel a little frustrating.

Why did I quit though? Well, after a month on, I simply knew that it wasn’t for me. Looking back to my sophomore or junior year college self, that kind of internship had me written all over it. Now? … Not so much. Although I enjoyed my time and experiences (so much of it was hands-on, which is rare at internships), I just knew that it wasn’t the best for me … especially since it was unpaid.

Unlike college, there are a lot more expenses that come your way on the post-grad journey. For example: Student loan repayment (can I just tell you that I cried over this for days when I got my first loan repayment bill?), law school admissions fees (do you even know how expensive this is? I don’t even want to talk about it), and so many other random things that happen (like for example, my computer just died….and I spent over $400 to be told that by Geek Squad…ouch). It’s just not practical to spend my time interning for no pay, especially since 90% of my time was spent sitting in my car in LA traffic. So, while I wanted to keep interning … it’s just not practical. Quitting felt like one of those forced break-ups. I wanted it, but at the same time, not so much.

So now I’m back at square one, trying to figure out just what it is I should be doing.

So much for post-grad stability, right?

A new study has found that women get royally pissed when they’re given a nickname in the office.  No, they’re not talking about that time your boss got drunk at the holiday party and called you Tits McGee.  The names included on the no-no list ranged from the benign “kiddo” to the slightly more (okay, a lot more) bizarre “poppet”.  While the study was conducted on women of various ages in the workforce, I do suspect this aversion to causal titles had to have stemmed from somewhere.  Perhaps a too-friendly college professor?  A nagging group of guy friends?  A fake-nice roommate from hell?

Becoming so drastically offended by someone referring to a peer as “dear” (also on the list at #8), just seems a little extreme to me.  I know you’re all probably envisioning some grotesque, perverted, middle-aged dude with a heavy breathing problem leering at you while rasping, “Hey darlin’ (#2) , bend over. I think I dropped my pen.”  And yes, that would be gross.

But imagine these more likely offenders: A professor who’s become a close mentor, the dude you’ve been best friends with since middle school, the precious old lady at the cafeteria register.  The study never indicated whether the coworkers in question were male or female, older or younger.  Does that mean there’s some sort of double standard for nicknames?  It’s okay for a female professor to dub you “hun” (#5) but not your male TA?  The girl down the hall can call you “Chick” (#7) but definitely not that guy from last night?  Where do we draw the line on all this nonsense?

And with that I ask you, what’s the big deal with a nickname?  So long as no one’s calling you Hoochie Mama or Busted Slut, is slipping an innocent “love” (#1!!) in here or there such a crime?  I think it’s time we relax a little and start sprinkling in a few nicknames of our own.  That’s right, I’m lookin’ at you, killer.

The next week, the same thing happened all over again.

I think you can all understand – making time for both work and play in the summer is hard.  In the winter, when it’s cold and gross out and there’s not as much as to do, it’s a little bit easier to get cozy in bed at a decent hour when you know you have to be up bright and early on a Wednesday. (Or, if you do enjoy a Tiki Tuesday, you can always sleep right through lecture the next morning….) But in the summer… not so much. There aren’t just bars to go to with your friends, there are barbecues and beach bonfires and house parties and fun things going on almost every single night. And it makes it even harder when a few of your best friends have nothing to worry about but part-time jobs. So this whole summer, since I have a little problem turning down doing something fun, I have been trying to figure out the perfect mix of working and going out. Unfortunately for me, I don’t only have my internship to worry about (although it is the most important) – I also have my part-time waitressing job which PAYS for my internship.

When I first started my internship, my social life kind of died for a little bit. During the winter and spring, I made work a priority – not only did I have to wake up at 6:30 am and travel into New York City three times a week to intern, but I also had to waitress every other night until pretty late, and make time to cover events in the city. I stopped going out and getting wasted all the time because I was either too tired from work, or I knew I had to be up early. And let me tell you – it was no fun. At all.

So when the warm weather started rolling in in May, I knew I had to make a change. I decided that I could no longer sacrifice my entire social life for my professional life, because frankly, I enjoy having a good time too much to do that. I was going to have a fun summer, dammit, and I went for it with full gusto. That night I went out for half-off bottles of wine and the next thing I knew I was waking up almost an hour late with purple lips, then spent the day slumped in front of my computer wondering if I could make it to the bathroom in time if I had to throw up.

It was hell.

Since then I’ve tweaked my social life and discovered a way to have fun and still be able to function at work the next day. All I have to do is learn to control myself. It’s not easy – like when I’m out with all of myfriends and everyone is doing shots and singing karaoke while I sip on a glass of beer – but it’s possible and mandatory if I want to function to the best of my abilities the next day. Even though it sucks to miss out on the drunken fun, at least I’m still there with my friends, witnessing the stupid things they are doing.

So for the rest of the summer, to ensure I get the most of my work and my play, I will be following these five rules:

1) No staying out past 2 am.
2) Stay away from tequila and vodka shots.
3) Don’t give into half-price bottles of wine, no matter how tempting they are.
4) Late night texts to that guy are probably not the best idea…
5) There is always an exception. Because sometimes, no matter how long the day will be, the hangover is totally worth it.

When I first started this internship in December, there were only a handful of other girls with me. We spent most of our days interning together gossiping quietly behind our computer screens, venting angrily about the ridiculous tasks we were asked to do, and showing each other funny YouTube clips to pass the time. For the entire spring semester, we bonded in a way only unpaid jobless college graduates can: we shared tips on how to get jobs and which websites had the best job postings, we discussed the different interviews we had gone on, and made fun of the other editors in the room with us. We became Facebook friends and followed each other on Twitter, and eventually, we started going out for dinner and drinks throughout Manhattan.

And at the end of the semester, when their internships had come to an end and I was the only one left at the magazine, I came to the sad realization that it was time to make new intern friends.

For a little while, I was one of the only interns at the magazine. I missed my friends from before – there wasn’t anyone to go on 5 o’clock coffee runs with – but while I couldn’t wait for the other interns to start, a part of me liked having all the responsibility. The summer interns started to slowly trickle in at the end of May, until suddenly one day I walked in and they were everywhere.

It felt odd at first, being the only intern who had experience at the magazine. I told the other girls how to do the different things we were told to do, but some of them made their own way of doing things and I was left wishing the old batch of interns was still around. The whole group of us just didn’t get along the way the winter interns had… and I’m not going to lie, it was a big disappointment.

Making friends with the girls you intern with is a huge plus when you start an internship. After all, who can understand what you’re going through more than the girl who’s right next to you on the Starbucks line for the late-night editor coffee run? Not to mention it’s a great networking tool – a lot of these girls will go on to work for various other magazines or PR firms, and knowing people in different companies is always helpful. Really, it’s just nice to come in to work and have someone to giggle with over silly celebrity gossip – it passes the time and makes not getting paid just a little bit easier.

But at the same time, it’s almost difficult to make friends with these girls knowing that all of you want the same exact thing: a job offer. And obviously, not all of you can get it. The group of girls I work with at the moment are ambitious, and a little bit intimidating. Two of the girls are tall, skinny, and the kind of pretty that you can’t ignore. A few of the other girls have resumes that make me feel like going back to school. A couple of other girls snatch up events so fast I’ve found myself checking my email more than a few times each hour. And I’m starting to feel slightly territorial – like, listen girls, I’ve been interning here since December. If a position opens up, it’s MINE.

But despite all that (and some passing urges to trip the other interns on the way into big meetings) we are all warming up to one another. There have been a few gossiping sessions in the library, a few “laugh so hard I cry” moments at my desk, and even talk of all of us going out for drinks. Maybe some people would choose being competitive over being friendly, but in the end I think I’d rather have the other interns on my side.

Yes, my future is on the line here, but having friends at work makes the present so much more bearable.

[F or most college students, summer means one thing: an unpaid internship. We’ve been there and we feel your pain. Whether you’re making copies, making coffee runs, or just trying to make your mark on the industry of your dreams, it’s much easier to get through it all with a little help from your (CollegeCandy) friends. So come back every week to listen/sympathize with/vent with our anonymous intern as she does her thang at a big time magazine in New York City. Because, let’s be honest, what else do you have to do in that cubicle all day?]

It’s no secret that interning can be a dull job. In fact, sometimes internships get such a bad rep that we forgot that they can also have some pretty amazing perks. In the field of journalism and magazine writing, one of those perks is being given the opportunity to cover red carpet events. At my internship, it’s hands down everyone’s favorite thing to do and for obvious reasons. I mean, free alcohol, free finger foods, a chance to meet celebrities AND reporting credit? What could be better?

I’ve met tons of other over-eager interns out there while I’m working the carpet and while some of them try to act all cool and casual, when it comes down to it, we’re all super excited to have a chance to talk to some of our favorite celebs, especially when it’s someone we love. (When me and another intern met Ashley Olsen the other night, we were both squealing like 12-year-olds at a Justin Bieber concert).

So what’s my point? Most of the time that excitement turns into telling all of our friends, family and basically anyone who will listen to us (I slipped it into a convo with the guy serving me pizza the other day), gush about our red carpet moments. And most of the time that gushing pisses people off and makes them think that we’re name-dropping fools who can’t stop bragging about our awesome accomplishments.

Take this week, for example. It was like the holy grail for me. It began with a music event that included Jason Mraz and Trey Songz (both surprisingly very attractive and a little flirty in person); continued with a star-studded Yves Saint Laurent party where Ashley Olsen, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Alexis Bledel and Whitney Port were in attendance; and ended with an interview with Derek Jeter, one of my favorite celeb guys (GO YANKEES!). So you can only imagine how excited I was all week…. and yes, I admit to one too many Facebook status updates and to blowing up my friend’s Twitter pages with all my observations.

But I wasn’t trying to brag! Honest.

Here’s the thing: covering events is (usually) easily the best part of any magazine internship. We interns spend 10-12 hours a day in an office on a regular basis, sitting in front of a computer doing nothing more than developing a nice case of carpal tunnel, so when the time comes to get out and do some real journalistic stuff, it’s pretty exciting. All of those years of early morning college classes and hours of transcribing has finally paid off when I’m standing in front of some of my fave celebs, interviewing them. And given all of the hard and sometimes boring work we do all day (for zero pay), can’t a girl get some bragging rights?

I can’t speak for all interns, but I know for myself that these moments are so exciting I just can’t keep them in. I’m not trying to brag or name-drop or show off – I just want to share my excitement and enthusiasm (which has been pent up for days while sitting silently at a table waiting for an assignment) with anyone who will listen. And if that means spewing it all over Facebook, well, so be it! I’ve worked really hard to get these opportunities so I feel it is my right to be excited without my friends’ eye rolling bringing me down.

I mean, come on, after months of getting coffee, getting yelled at and being totally ignored by (some of) my superiors, let me have my moment of glory, will you? Sometimes it’s the only thing keeping me going.

My ideal Friday night.

Riddle me this. Why did no one warn me that 3-day weekends don’t exist in the real world?

Maybe I was naive and in a college bubble, but I truly had no idea that people worked full days on Friday. Like it still blows me away me when my boss gives me a ten page to-do list on Friday at 4:00. By that time I’m in full weekend mode and already planning my outfit for the night. And by outfit for the night, I mean figuring out which pajamas will be the most comfortable while I drink wine alone in my bed.

I can barely get up the energy to go out on both Friday and Saturday anymore. Hell, I barely have the energy to move myself from my couch to my bed at 10 p.m. on Friday night after Ugly Betty is over. I’ve turned into a pathetic version of myself. A version that I’d be hazing and probably rolling my eyes at if I were my former cooler, drunker, college self. I actually enjoy spending my weekend nights eating cookie dough and watching deleted scenes of The Notebook. I’m one Friday-night-in away from buying matching pajama sets.

But this weekend I had a momentary lapse in judgment and forgot I’m a 40-year-old middle aged mom. I went out Friday night, Saturday night, AND Sunday afternoon. I should have quit while I was ahead. Sunday Funday (as everyone insists on calling it) is anything but fun. It’s a day drinking event that should be left to the pros — college students and David Hasseloff.

Chugging mimosas 1-3 made me feel like a champ. I felt like I was back in my prime and I even debated tattooing Sunday Funday across my forehead. However, after that it was all downhill. I got bloated, hungover, and tired before the sun even went down. It didn’t take me long to go from being a fun postgrad to being an upright corpse. I crawled home, got into my sweats, and watched a quality Lifetime movie.

As I lay in bed, willing my room not to spin, I couldn’t believe it was already Sunday, my weekend was already over and I was too drunk to actually do anything. Like laundry or grocery shopping. Those are the things you think of when the weekend comes in the real world.  Things are bleak out here and I fear I’ll never get used to this life…or such unbearably short weekends. The only thing I have to look forward to now is the day that they invent cookie dough that doesn’t come with the risk of salmonella.

Obviously this has me tearing apart my closet, sifting through piles of jeans and tanks and blazers, letting them all duke it out for a place in my tiny suitcase.

After packing my must-have PMS sweats, I moved on to “work attire,” because, sadly, instead of lounging around the house all day eating leftovers, I will actually have to wake up early and go to an internship when I get back to school.

After my pair of black dress pants and a modest sweater dress made the cut, I was extremely bored. Am I really going to go from partying with friends in my leather jacket and sequined mini to a stuffy button up? I felt my fashionista heart breaking into a million pieces.

That is until I stumbled upon Express during a daily web-surfing session and found the High Waist Cotton Pencil Skirt in Geometric. Suddenly a light bulb went off: Just because I have to wake up early and go to an office like an adult doesn’t mean that I have to leave my fashion-forward college self behind.

When it comes to a work wardrobe, it’s about compromise. The fact that this skirt from Express is professional and trendy at the same time makes it the perfect staple for an appropriate work outfit, while saving me from becoming a drone in black pants and flats. The cotton/spandex fabric allows me to move around comfortably, and the knee length keeps the sexy hip-hugging fit toned down enough for the office. And pairing it with a black blazer will ensure that it is work appropriate.

What I love the most is the geometric pattern. It’s totally unexpected, but surprisingly classy. The horizontal block colors are totally modern and ridiculously slimming (and I’ll take any help I can get; Lord knows my love handles aren’t looking their best after stuffing my face for three weeks straight).

What makes this skirt an even better buy? Trade the button-down for a sequined black tank and layered metal necklaces and you’re ready for happy hour with your friends or a dinner date with the sexy guy from last week’s toga party.

At $49.50, even the price tag is tempting for something I will get so much wear out of. What else could you possibly want out of a pencil skirt?

I’m sold.

She's mine, all mine! Mwahahahaha.

After three long summers of unpaid interning (and people say slavery is illegal!) I’m finally getting my own interns tomorrow. How quickly the tables have turned.

Of course I’m using the phrase “my interns” very loosely. One of the companies I work for is getting interns and I’ve been placed in charge of supervising them. And considering the entire company operates through e-mail and Facebook pokes, I’m pretty sure supervising them consists of g-chatting them weekly and asking “wassup.”

So unfortunately for me (and my dreams) there will be no coffee runs, copy machine assignments, or endless paper recycling drills. Unfortunately for my interns, I will be requiring that they refer to me as madam each time they address me in person and thy honorable Jenni each time they begin an e-mail. I’m only a few years older than them and I look 13 so I have to make it clear from the start that I’m in charge.

In fact, I might just drill that point home by adding  a dress code chapter to the intern guidebook (an 80-page manual that chronicles my life from birth to present) that I so generously wrote for them. Nothing too fancy of course, basic black-tie casual attire should do.

I don’t plan to be a complete lunatic as their internship-coordinator-life skills-director-inspirational-influencer (just the new title I added to my resume). I want them to leave this internship with crazy experiences that they can eventually exaggerate successfully on a resume. After all, I never would have gotten where I am today if I hadn’t listed this job on my resume as CollegeCandy Founder, Owner, & Contributor — it sounds a lot flashier and important than self-obsessed blogger.

The learning begins early tomorrow and I have a busy first day orientation planned for them that involves reading about the company, prank calling my friends at work, and commenting excessively on this post. While I can’t even begin to predict how much my interns will have learned by this time next week, I can safely predict that I may be demoted and will no longer be able to call myself an internship-coordinator-life skills-director-inspirational-influencer.