**Originally posted August 9, 2009**
I am asking myself this question fairly constantly, every single day (and sometimes at night). I am nowhere near where I thought I’d be by this time in my life, and I don’t quite know what to make of it. I graduated from high school six years ago. I graduated from college eight months ago. And today, the most exciting thing I did was put clean sheets on the bed and ride my bike at the park. Now, let me assure you, this lack-of-a-job thing isn’t for lack of wanting or trying. It’s more of an our-economy-blows and a what-do-I-actually-want-to-do? type thing. Two separate problems, yes, but compounded they make the job hut quite a daunting task.
I’m not a big fan of being behind, not living up to expectations, aiming low, setting for mediocrity, etc, etc. I have never been comforted by being in the middle of a population of any sort, be it in musical talent, academic ability, you name it. Part of this is due, I believe, by the crazy standards of public education and the insane grading procedures used to define students, but that’s really a topic for another post. But, knowing this about myself, I decided to do a little research and find out exactly what groups I DO fit into. Right now, more than ever in my life, I feel like I could be better described by a statistic in the economy section of USA Today than anything else. So, in rough numbers, here’s a rough estimate of me. I am:
- 1 of about 2 million recent college graduates who are without a job
- 1 of 253,000 living alumni of the University of Georgia
- 1 of 8,885 freshman accepted into UGA for fall of 2003 (6,102 actually went)
- Of those 6,102 freshman, I am part of the 75.8% of them who took (at least) 5 years to graduate
- 1 of 2,553 undergraduates to receive a diploma from UGA in December of 2008
- 1 of the 34-36% of Americans who consider themselves Democrats
- 1 of the 17% of Americans born with blue eyes
- 1 of the 56% of pet owners who own two cats (Mine are two of the 88.3 million owned cats in the United States)
- 1 of the 3.2% of people with type AB+ blood
