Are you ready for the real world?

Are you ready for the real world?

I'm sure you think you are...but take this quiz from Nicholas Aretakis, author of "No More Ramen: The 20-Something's Real World Survival Guide," to find out.

1. You dream of making it big in the fashion industry. You have an assistant manager job at a Gap store in the suburban Midwest. You spend most of your job-hunting time:

1. Searching the Ralph Lauren and Prada websites for job listings and making contacts on MySpace.com with people who describe themselves as working in fashion.
2. Launching your own clothing design business and planning a move to New York.
3. Taking night classes in design and doing an internship with a local clothing designer who’s been able to get her clothes into a few area boutiques. You want to learn more about the business before you make any big changes.

2. You’re offered an entry-level job in your desired field, but you’re not sure if you can live on what they pay you. You:

1. Turn down the job because you refuse to be exploited that way.
2. Accept the job. You’ll take a second job or find a cheaper place to live.
3. Accept the job and move back in with your parents. You miss them anyway.

3. After a year at an entry-level job with no sign of a promotion on the horizon, you:

1. Start looking at graduate programs. School is much better than the working life, and no matter what degree you get, it will help you get a better job and earn more money.
2. Decide you like your job enough to stay, so you resolve to work even harder. You’ll deliver consistently excellent work, show that you understand the business, and network with co-workers. You’ll stop complaining about problems and start offering creative ideas about solving them.
3. Look for a new job. You weren’t that comfortable there in the first place, and you believe you’ll be able to realize your true potential in a more supportive workplace.

4. Your grandparents give you a college graduation gift of $5,000. You:

1. Go on a shopping spree and plan to spend the summer bumming around Europe. With your college degree, you’ll be earning plenty of money on your own soon, so it doesn’t matter if you’re broke by September.
2. You use $1,000 to pay off your credit card debt, put $2,000 into a savings account, and plan to use the rest to help you out while you’re doing a low-paid summer internship in your chosen career.
3. You spend half the money backpacking with friends in Costa Rica, a trip you've dreamed about since high school, and then use the rest to live on as you look for a job and apartment in the city you've chosen to live in.

5. Your new schedule is killing you. You have to be at work at 8:00, and don’t leave the office until 5:00 p.m. or later. All you have energy for after work is watching TV. You:

1. Quit. You’re just not ready to be so grown up, and you don’t want to become a stress mess like your parents. You’ll wait tables part-time for a year or so until you’re ready to re-enter the real world.
2. Resolve to work harder, waste less time on personal e-mail and blogs, and become a key player at the office. If you get a promotion, your job will be more exciting and you know you’ll feel better about the long hours.
3. Sign up for a yoga class and resolve to get off the bus a couple of stops early so you can walk part of the way to and from work. You know you always feel better if you exercise regularly.

Scoring: Give yourself 10 points for each A, 20 points for each B, and 30 points for each C.

• 50–70 The Entitled Prince/Princess. You have unrealistic expectations. You think you deserve freedom, accomplishment, money, and enjoyment, but you aren’t willing to put any effort into getting them.

• 80-110   The Overachiever. You're driven and have your eyes on the prize. You'll probably accomplish great things and earn plenty of money. But don't forget to make space for the other two qualities of happiness: freedom and enjoyment.

• 120-150  The Happy Pragmatist. You're goal-oriented, but not as driven as the Overachiever. Work/life balance is important to you. You may not climb as high on the career ladder or earn as much money as the Overachiever, but you'll probably have an excellent balance of all four qualities of happiness: freedom, accomplishment, money and enjoyment.