It's not by choice.

"Everybody's like, 'Oh, you have a break, you're going to work for the rest of your life,'" she says over a glass of funny-tasting tea. She ordered iced tea, but the waitress forgot the ice. Bufalini still leaves a tip on the $2.38 tab.

"But I just kind of feel like I'm such a loser now," she says. "Like I don't do anything. I work at a restaurant. I'm furious because I have a college degree, and I'm working for $2 an hour."

Bufalini's dilemma is a nightmare for students on the cusp of graduation. Students worry about finding jobs in the field they've spent the last several years studying, not to mention leaving family, friends and significant others behind. Forget about a midlife crisis: Some students face a quarter-life crisis.

In a Kent State survey of its 1999 graduates, 89 percent got a job related to their field within the first year of graduation. Another 7 percent went on to continue their education.

More than likely, today's graduating students will face the conundrum of sorting out too many options, says Denzel Benson, professor of sociology. But that can be just as stressful as having no options at all.

"What I'm seeing more now in students is not, 'What am I going to do?' but, 'What choice am I going to make?'" says Benson, who is a student adviser.

"Because there are so many opportunities, people have a lot of choice, and choice can be frustrating, even more so than only having a couple choices," he says.

Angela Petrella, a senior English major, quesions her ability to find a job in her major.

He remembers when graduates took the first job offer because it was the only option they had. Today's students have it a little better, he says, but "if you've never experienced the situation of no choice, then this probably seems pretty freaky to you."

Bufalini, who received a bachelor's degree in advertising, sums up the situation well: "It just seems like I've been on a direct mission ever since I started to get through. As soon as you start you are working toward that goal, and I'm just kind of like, 'OK, I'm done. Now what?'"

But whatever the options before them, graduating students see a strange new door swing open only at the expense of others slamming shut. Walking through that door causes more than a little stress. And adding to that pressure is a preconceived notion of where that path should lead by the time they reach age 30.