Graduation bucket list
The year after graduation is the most open you'll be for a long time. Here's a bucket list for after graduation that makes the most of it.
Graduation closes a chapter that came with a timetable. For the first time, nobody hands you the next step. That can feel like freedom or like free fall — usually both on the same day.
A graduation bucket list gives that open stretch some shape. It isn't a career plan. It's a list of experiences, skills and small habits that are easiest to start right now, before a full calendar decides for you.
The summer after
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1 Travel Vietnam north to south
Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City by sleeper train, motorbike and boat. Cheap, generous and endlessly interesting — the classic first long trip for a reason.
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2 Island-hop through the Cyclades
Buy ferry tickets one island at a time and let the plan change. Milos and Naxos are calmer than Mykonos, and you'll want calm after exams.
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3 Take one very long train
The Trans-Siberian, the Canadian, or the night trains of Europe. Long rail journeys give you days to think about what comes next, with the landscape doing the talking.
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4 Volunteer abroad for a month
A month somewhere you're useful — teaching, building, conservation. Choose a programme carefully, stay long enough to matter and come back with a wider view of what work can be.
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Skills school didn't teach
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5 Build a public portfolio
Whatever you studied, collect the work you're proud of in one place you can link to. It does more in interviews than any line on a CV.
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6 Edit a video you're proud of
Story, cuts and sound, start to finish. Being able to tell a story on video is useful in almost any job, and it makes your travel footage worth watching.
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7 Touch-type at 90 WPM
A boring skill with a ridiculous payoff. A few weeks of practice saves hours every month for the rest of your working life.
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8 Earn a first-aid certificate
If you're heading off on trips and hikes, a wilderness first-aid course is the one qualification that might matter more than your degree on a given day.
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9 Get a language to working level
Not "I did it at school" — enough to lead a meeting or handle a phone call. It opens jobs, cities and friendships that stay closed otherwise.
The first chapter of your own life
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10 Start a small side project that earns
A tiny shop, a bit of freelancing, a newsletter. The first money you earn from something you made yourself feels different from a salary.
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11 Mentor someone a few years behind you
You've just been through school, applications and exams. A student who's two years behind you would value that more than you think.
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12 Join a community garden
If you've moved to a new city, it's one of the fastest ways to meet neighbours who aren't on your course or at your company.
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13 Plan a yearly reunion with your friends
Pick a weekend, put it in everyone's calendar now and protect it. Friendships from university fade by accident, not by choice.
Keep it, don't just tick it
A bucket list is easy to write and easy to forget. DoBefore keeps it where you'll see it, lets you tick ideas off with a tap, and turns each one into a memory with photos, the place, how it felt and a few lines of reflection. Years from now you won't just know that you did it — you'll remember what it was like.
Ten years from now you'll want to remember the first apartment, the first trip you paid for yourself and the first time someone asked for your advice. Capture them while they're new.
Start your list
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