Courtesy of Rachel Bernstein
- Rachel Bernstein graduated college last May and is Insider's editorial partnerships and awards fellow.
- She had no idea what to expect from post-grad life other than what she saw in movies and heavily-edited Insta posts.
- Making older friends, traveling solo, and making the best of an "in between" job have helped her navigate the past year.
In late September of last year, I found myself in tears on a soccer field at a college I had once attended, tucked in the not-always-lush hills of Los Angeles.
I'd just gotten rejected from a job that I would have been perfect for, and it put my rejections and job "ghostings" in the triple digits — after applying to over 200 roles.