Paper short abstract:

Drawing on an ethnography of graduates from an elite university in New York City - many of whom move to Los Angeles - this paper traces the dialectical transformation of aspirations and transitions. Faced with unexpected outcomes, graduates revise their fantasies and question the velocity of life.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents findings from an ethnographic study on the aspirations and transitions of graduates from an elite university in New York. The cultural context of higher education which these graduates are transitioning out of entails an ethos among the student body of presenting one's self as en route to career success. Such an intense and academically earnest atmosphere was surprising for an ethnographer more accustomed to a student culture of performative nonchalance in British higher education (cf. Fox, 2006). Laden with high pressures and expectations, the New York graduates propel themselves out of their degree towards superlative financial and vocational goals. For many, such dreams are furnished through a move to Los Angeles. However, most find the foundations of their lives begin to dissipate, while the futures they had imagined prove largely elusive. As graduates acknowledge their unexpected outcomes and adapt to unfamiliar circumstances of work, money, and sociality, they revise their lives in motion. This talk focuses on this dialectical transformation between aspirations and transitions. Longitudinal examples highlight the dynamism, situatedness, and perpetual vulnerability of life plans.