From testicular cancer paranoia to police interrogations, 5 WashU seniors anonymously confess their secrets from the last four years. This video is part of Student Life’s Finish Line issue, celebrating the Class of 2024 at Washington University in St. Louis as they graduate.

Around the country, students from the class of 2021 have been strongly impacted by the pandemic, having the final third of their college careers take place online. In what is already a stressful time, the COVID-19 pandemic has added worry, loneliness and uncertainty to the lives of these soon-to-be graduates.

The premature cancellation of the 2020 NCAA golf season disappointed the seniors hoping for a successful conclusion.

While the majority of the senior class will be graduating this May, a significant number of seniors graduated a few days ago in a ceremony at Graham Chapel. Their reasons for graduating were varied, but they all shared at least one thing in common: none of them were part-time students.

It’s not over yet but for seniors struggling to figure out what to do with their lives—or at least for some time after they get their college diplomas in two months—it may feel alarmingly close. The pink granite walls of Wash. U. can be insulating from the world outside but at some point we all peek out and realize just what we’re facing­.

For all those seniors on campus, graduation is just 53 days away. With just under two months left in St. Louis, we put together a bucket list of events that our soon-to-be graduates should experience before they leave the Gateway City.

Senior basketball players Dylan Richter and Alex Toth have shared many experiences together at Washington University—some exhilarating, some disheartening, some loony and some unprintable in a student newspaper. They have lived together all four years and are students in the John M. Olin School of Business.

On the scientific scale of pain, job hunting normally falls somewhere between root canal and dropkicking tiny kittens. In an economy like this one, however, it’s closer to letting an English major perform open-heart surgery on your gaping chest without anesthesia. (And no, English majors, you are not going to qualify for jobs involving open-heart surgery. Try again.

Now that we’re seniors, there’s this all-important term called the Bucket List. This mystical list is basically a compilation of things one needs to do before he or she graduates. When first asked what graced the top of my list, I knew what I wanted to do immediately.

Is it just me or are the freshmen getting smarter this year? No, I don’t mean smarter as in less prone to heading to frat row in packs of 20.