Notre Dame and Saint Mary's seniors are graduating this weekend, but what are they doing next?

While a few may hit up Walt Disney World in the coming week, their long-term plans are more varied.

Former Notre Dame football center Jeff Faine, for example, will suit up in a Cleveland Browns uniform this fall while Andrew Serazin, a senior biology major, will travel to Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar.

Students from both schools with a variety of majors will begin the climb up the corporate ladder as their peers head back to the classroom, enrolling in medical and law schools and a variety of other graduate programs. Other Notre Dame and Saint Mary's graduates will volunteer for a year or two through service programs in domestic and international locales and seniors in Army, Air Force and Navy ROTC will fulfill their commitments to serve the country. Students from Notre Dame and Saint Mary's are engaged and a few plan to tie the knot in the coming months.

Indeed, the post-graduate plans of this year's two classes are as diverse and varied as the students who compose them.

Called to serve

Students from both schools are continuing a long-standing tradition of giving back after graduation.

Anne Traynor, for example, will pack her bags and head to Micronesia this fall through a Jesuit Volunteer Corps program. The science education major will dedicate two years to teaching biology and chemistry.

"Since high school I've known I wanted to do some service after [college] graduation," she said. "I've done a lot of service in high school and college. I feel I learned a lot from it. I've had an opportunity to grow in my faith here and I'd love to expand on that."

Traynor is not alone. Andrea Smith Shappell, director of senior transition programs at the Center for Social Concerns, said approximately 10 percent of this year's graduating class are committed to service programs. Between eight and 10 percent of Saint Mary's graduates also plan to volunteer for the next year or two, said Sister Linda Kors, director of the SURV Center.

Popular programs for Notre Dame seniors include Holy Cross Associates and the Alliance for Catholic Education, both of which are based on campus. Many Saint Mary's students are volunteering through the Peace Corps and Jesuit Volunteer Corps, though graduates from both schools are committed to a variety of different programs.

According to Kors and Shappell, students pursue post-graduate service for a variety of reasons. Many volunteer extensively during their time at Notre Dame and Saint Mary's and want to continue assisting others. Some cite a desire to grow in their religious faith as a motivating factor.

"It felt like I was getting stuff constantly throughout my years of education," said Rory Dippold, a history major who will teach middle school children in Mobile, Ala. through ACE. "I wanted to give back. I wanted to do service through teaching."

Despite the economic situation, few students said they elected to pursue service because of problems securing a job. Recent events in the Middle East have also not deterred graduates from pursuing international service programs. In fact, the percentage of students traveling abroad for service at both schools is the highest in recent years.

Back to the books

Even though some students are too tired of books to continue with more education after four years of college, others jump right back into academia, pursuing various graduate programs. In the past, anywhere from 13 to 17 percent of seniors have gone on to continue their studies after graduation.

Many Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students are headed on to prestigious programs or are the recipients of well-known academic honors. Senior Maura Kelly will spend 13 months in Brazil on a Ful-bright scholarship next year studying democracy, income equality and social policy in the cities of Curitivea and Porto Alegre. The program offers up to 10 awards for lecturing and research each year to students with high academic and extracurricular qualifications. Kelly applied in September of the past year at the encouragement of many of her professors and heard back from the program on May 5.

"It's a very humbling experience to go through your senior year knowing that what you want to do is in the hands of other people," said Kelly. "The encouragement I've received is an affirmation of the presence and community that exists at Notre Dame and that I think a lot of the students feel."

Law school is another popular destination for graduating seniors, attracting as much as eight percent of the class in past years. Although law school is most popular among students in the College of Arts and Letters, students from every school except architecture go on to study law every year.

Senior Veronica Berger plans to attend either Notre Dame Law School or the law school at Cornell University.

"I'm excited to get on my own two feet for once, and do something that I'm really interested in," said Berger.

While approximately 14 percent of Arts and Letters graduates go on to law school, almost 40 percent of science graduates go on to medical or dental school. Many medical students enter Notre Dame with the full knowledge that they have eight years of school and up to six years of residency ahead of them and take advantage of the undergraduate years to pursue other interests as well.

"I knew what I wanted to do when I started and I came in as an anthropology and ALPP major," said Brita Mc-Cullough, who will attend medical school at Loyola University of Chicago. "It's a good background and [gives] a good perspective on medical school."

For engineering students, graduate school is also a popular option, though not a necessity. Two years earning a master's degree or five years earning a Ph.D. open doors to a wide variety of jobs and teaching positions in the field.

Engineering student Jim Dalton plans to enter the University of Wisconsin's electrical engineering program in the fall and hopes to earn a Ph.D. and work in the field before teaching.

"A lot of people still don't have jobs, so graduate school is a good option," said Dalton. "Given the economy, it's a good choice."

Bringing in the bucks

After four years spending money on an education at Notre Dame or Saint Mary's, many graduates have decided it's time to start making some.

Laura Ramirez, an accounting major, will move to Sacramento, Calif. after graduation to begin her new job with Ernst and Young. She will work as an auditor, visiting clients' worksites with a team to review their financial statements. While many seniors are struggling to find employment, Ramirez knew her post-graduation plans last summer when the company recruited her after an internship.

"It's extremely exciting," she said of her new job. "There's a lot of uncertainty with what I'll be doing next year. There will be a lot of firsts."

Other students' plans are more tentative. Maria Conticelli, a Saint Mary's theatre major, plans to move to Chicago with some friends after the summer and launch an acting career. The Atlanta native will visit a lot of companies once she arrives and hopes to land a part with a traveling theatre group, she said.

"It's something that's hard to plan for," Conticelli said. "When you're starting out they recommend you start out in Chicago. New York and Los Angeles can be extremely overwhelming. It's almost better to get started in a smaller market."

Lee Svete, director of the Career Center, said that on average 53 to 60 percent of students are employed after graduation, in addition to those pursuing service and graduate education. This year, the number of employed students may be slightly lower, Svete said, as the slow economy steers more students into medical and law schools.

"This has probably been one of the most compressed markets in a number of years," said Jeff Roberts, interim assistant director of counseling and coordinator of placement services at Saint Mary's Counseling and Career Development Center. "The upside is that the economy is still moving along. People are getting hired. There are opportunities.

Tying the knot

Everyone's headed into a mysterious future after graduation, but some seniors aren't going alone. It has been estimated that up to 60 percent of Notre Dame graduates and 1 in 10 Saint Mary's students will eventually marry a Notre Dame alumnus.

For many students, the dream is to be married in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus. This summer alone, the Basilica will host 37 weddings of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's graduates. However, only those who plan far in advance actually get the opportunity. Reservations open the first day of March the year prior to the event, and 90 percent of spots are filled on the first day.

Most graduating engaged couples choose to wait a year or so before tying the knot. Senior Katie Ball and junior Todd Boruff, high school friends who began dating during Katie's sophomore year at Notre Dame, plan to wait until July 10, 2004 to have their ceremony.

Some engaged seniors have been dating since nearly the beginning of their time here, and still plan to go on to higher education prior to their weddings. Phil Tribble and Alison Troy, who met on the first day of classes freshman year, plan to get married after continuing their educations at Ohio University and Duke University.

Wedding bells are ringing for Saint Mary's students as well. Graduating English literature and dance major Laura Bost and senior architecture major Adam Jeselnick met through interfaith services and sang together in the choir before they started dating. Both studied abroad at the same time in Rome, where they continued dating. Jeselnick proposed on a beach in California after picking up his girlfriend from her home in Arizona for a surprise trip. The couple will be married in Scottsdale, Ariz. June 22.

Graduating Notre Dame seniors Michael Boldt and Katie Jeter chose a different route, and were married on Saturday. The newlyweds had both planned to go into military service before being medically disqualified and set an early date in order to be stationed together.

"We were both lucky," said Boldt. "We didn't have any actual finals, so it wasn't too difficult to plan everything."

Notre Dame and Saint Mary's seniors are looking forward to their last few days with their old friends in their old home, and may be having trepidations about the time ahead. While there are years ahead to be alumni, the few short years of being Notre Dame and Saint Mary's students are forever behind. Whether it's the Peace Corps, Columbia law, wedding vows or medical research, the graduates of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's are headed for a variety of bright and exciting futures. Wherever the graduates end up, there will be four good years spent together to look back on.

• Looking ahead: Members of the class of 2003 ponder post-graduation plans