The real world has never been closer than it is today for the approximately 4,000 graduates in the Class of 2014.

Unless they plan to extend their stay in cushy academia for a bit longer by attending graduate school, of course. 

It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago, many of these seniors had just stepped onto this campus as fresh faced first-year students, largely oblivious to the temptations and stressors of this enormous campus. 

Now — preferably after a night (or two) of well-deserved celebration — they step off this campus, armed with everything they’ve learned in the past several years, and into the real world. Outside of the Urbana-Champaign community, internships, careers and life itself awaits. 

Once again, they will be fresh faced first-year students. This time, they’re enrolled in the School of Life. The good news? The base cost is quite a bit cheaper than your tuition here.

Luckily, these “freshmen” will probably not be shouted at as they stroll down the bike lane. They probably won’t have to share a bedroom with some disgusting stranger. They probably won’t have to share their shower with 50 other people. Verbal abuse, however, is a distinct possibility. You’re always going to have to put up with something starting from the bottom.

But how else do you reach the top? You all heard Col. Mike Hopkins on Saturday at Commencement — you define your own success. You must make your own goals. Then you draft it into a tweet on your iPhone and send it off with an emoji.

In all honesty though, this college thing is hard work, but no one ever said it was easy. I suppose that’s what makes a college degree such an admirable thing in today’s world. It depicts a strong commitment to meet a goal and a willingness to put up with basically any seemingly ridiculous thing your boss tells you to do. That’s what an employer wants to see. 

Not everyone made it all the way to Commencement, either. We all have friends who were slapped with academic probation early on and just didn’t adapt quickly enough. Some friends dropped out. Some friends may have had too much fun and decided to extend their stay at the University for a bit longer.

All of that is what makes your degree so impressive. You’ve shaped up to be more of a success than everyone else who didn’t make it. This campus of 40,000 is natural selection at its finest.

If anything, the college experience is a youth’s first introduction to independent life. You can still count on your parents, but not to the extent you were able to in high school. You learn to develop your own support groups and your own habits that allow you to achieve success. You learn what works, you learn what doesn’t.

But now you’re here — a college graduate. And then you’re off onto a journey that hopefully tops this one.

Congratulations to the Class of 2014 — it was hard work, but you made it. If you rise to the standards of the alumni before you, maybe someday your name will be printed above the fold on the front page of The Daily Illini.