The idea of graduation is often associated with high school and the journey of leaving one’s hometown and friends to go off to college, but most people tend to forget about college graduations and the impact of entering real-world jobs and careers. In college, students build longtime friendships that expand across all ages and grade years, often leading to abrupt separations due to one student’s graduation or the other. 

“I have a few friends I met through film club a few years ago when I was a freshman or sophomore at the time and I didn’t even realize they were seniors,” said Sydney Auriemma, a senior mass communication major. “It was really jarring for me when they graduated because in college the clubs and classes you’re in you never actually know what grade people are unless you specifically ask”.

Lifetime friendships can last past graduation depending on how a student maintains communication or how they cope with a particular friend’s departure from campus. Students who remain on campus while their friend goes out into the real world can reminisce on moments through a reconnection on social media or through a mutual connection to said friend. 

Ellen Patton, a senior art major, connects with her graduated friends through text messaging and making time to meet up with them as much as she can. She holds a preference for text messaging over social media. 

“Just making sure that you keep the connection, rather than just cutting it off cause you’re not seeing each other is important,” Patton said. 

Different social media like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook tend to be the main ways of staying up to date with friends over long distances. Instagram remains the main social media for Generation Z with 91% of user activity, according to Sprout Social. 

Compared to Instagram, TikTok remains the place for discovery of the outside and pop culture world more than that of Instagram, which allows interaction with a friend’s life. 

Despite having many options for staying in touch with friends, time can create a distance that can become hard to avoid or come back from. For college students classes, jobs or extracurriculars can impede their ability to stay in touch with graduated friends.

“I think it’s difficult because they’re starting new jobs, and it’s probably full-time, and I’m a full-time student, so it’s really hard to text, let alone try and see them,” Auriemma said. 

Recent college graduate students, like current students, may find their time taken up by new jobs or career paths.

Kylie Rowe, a recent fall 2024 graduate at GCSU, finds that making time to go to lunch with friends at least once a month can help a connection remain between friends. For the times where distance is imminent, she turns to Instagram which allows her to send reels or memes to friends as a means of establishing a connection, no matter how small. 

Rowe establishes that although high school graduation is discussed more, she finds college graduation harder because most college friends live together for longer periods, developing deeper connections. 

Upon entering the real-world job market, graduated college students may find themselves missing a college experience and the friends that came with it.

“What I miss most about GSCU, or college in general is seeing people in class, because I feel like there’s a camaraderie had, especially when you get further in your major, with like people you kinda know but not really and now you don’t really have that anymore,” Rowe said. 

Ways to maintain a long-distance friendship between graduated students and current students in college start with an establishment of continuing a friendship before the friend leaves, then the creation of some type of tradition or ritual and then when seeing each other make sure to prioritize time and remain present. The next step involves a routine check-in with the friend, followed by a reminder that every friendship can have down moments, according to Wondermind. 

“I think staying connected is really important because I can’t see my friends in class or at activities anymore,” Rowe said. “So you have to make more time.”