“The Adulting Manual consists of questions students found most important for post-college graduates about adulthood,” explains Victoria Karker ’18, a student involved in the project. “The Victoria Karker ’18Manual provides readers with personal stories and advice from post-college graduates about the various responsibilities of adulthood.”

In the spring semester of 2017, SOAN 244: Anthropology of Education students interviewed dozens of their classmates to find out what topics concerned them most about adulthood. Based on their research, students in the fall’s SOAN 320: Social Research: Qualitative Methods were able to assemble questions on six key topics of adult life: home life, jobs, finances, communication in personal relationships, communication with institutions, and health and well-being.

“This manual also brought a lot of topics that I never even thought of to my mind, and made me realize that there is even more to adulthood aside from paying bills and having a family,” says Karker. 

Social Research: Qualitative Methods students interviewed 157 members of the Forester Career Network from all walks of life and ranging from the newly graduated to the retired. Students then analyzed the interview transcripts for shared themes and for differences in advice. Holly Swyers