You are counting the days. Your cap and gown have been ordered. Freedom looms sweetly on the distant horizon. You’re still worried about two major tests and with luck, the professor will accept the final research paper without those two sources that you never could find.

You’re waiting to hear from the three companies you’ve interviewed with. After dedicating half of your young adult life to the pursuit of higher education (and therefore the promises of wealth, recognition and prestige), graduation is actually becoming a reality. But, before the partying really gets under way, take a minute to skim through the rest of this column.

Tests do not end after graduation. When you trade your jeans and sweatshirt in for a suit and tie, grades transform into performance reviews. Student/teacher relationships evolve into employee/employer relationships. Instead of planning a schedule around test and project due dates, you plan a schedule around apartment/house maintenance, pay day and bill due dates.

Graduating seniors, enjoy your last few weeks as a student. Life doesn’t get any easier once you leap out of the nest. This Saturday, the Leadership Enrichment Action Program (LEAP) and the Senior Class Council have teamed together to offer you “Life 490: Succeeding Beyond a Degree.” It is an eight-hour seminar at the Iowa State Memorial Union designed to give you “flying lessons” in your preparation to leave the nest.

Design, art and science majors, are you comfortable writing that cover letter and composing other business correspondence? If not, there’s a workshop offered called business writing that should clear things up for you.

Do you know which fork to use first in the event that a potential employer invites you to an upscale restaurant for an interview? The “Etiquette” luncheon will help you.

Got a carefully constructed budget plan once your income begins, including how much you’ll save and/or invest, where and how? The financial seminar will help you with some of those decisions.

My guess is that the workshop called “Balancing a Career and Family” is targeted toward the ladies. Other workshops will focus on how best to express your needs, ideas and goals in the workplace, like how to negotiate a higher salary with your boss. A panel of “fresh” alumni will share some of their experiences in functioning in the real world since they’ve graduated.

Considering grad school? Some graduate students will be available to discuss the possibilities and realities concerning graduate studies.

Are you anchored through some professional networking? If not, someone will show you how to do it.

The cost is $25 for non-student alumni and $20 for student alumni. Considering that a fancy luncheon is included to break up the day, and as an extra bonus, you receive a black expensive genuine leather professional portfolio, do you really need more convincing? Considering how much time and effort students like Beth Brei and scores of others have spent planning and organizing this seminar, is there a doubt in your mind where you need to be on Saturday? This has been planned for students by students and former students who have been in the “real world” and have survived to talk about it.

As of Monday afternoon, Brei reported that a total of 65 students are currently signed up. Although the registration deadline was reported to be last week, Brei says reservations are still gladly being taken. Either call 294-8488 and pay by credit or go to the Memorial Union, room 158, and tell the receptionist to sign you up.

It is stressful enough sometimes just to fulfill all the necessary graduation requirements for any given department, let alone think about any of that other stuff. But in our culture, it is like weddings. You can get so consumed with all the preparations that once the actual marriage begins, it is easy to become disillusioned.

Some students, such as myself, were lucky enough to have families as a support system to help during that transition. But that is more of an exception than a rule today. Not everyone has that luxury. Not everyone wants help from their family. That is what the seminar is for. I wish something like this would have been offered when I was graduating.

Even if you think you have it all figured out — from the job to living accommodations to the professional wardrobe — you are likely to find this workshop very helpful. Transitions are never easy, no matter how prepared you think you are. If nothing else, go to lend support to other graduates. The main purpose is to ease some fears and calm some nerves. “There are definitely some things I am nervous about. Leaving school means leaving your support system,” said Beth Brei, senior class council president.

Other universities have been doing these seminars on a much larger scale. I am glad this university has stepped up to the plate as well.

Leslie Heuer is a graduate student in English from Des Moines.