For senior Alicia Varcoe graduating means New York City, but she's not heading to the Big Apple for your average marketing job. She's going to market herself - as a jazz singer.
But there's more to her preparations than meets the ear. She said she's spent countless hours researching how to make the transition from a student to a professional.
"For every hour that I actually spend singing or writing, I'm spending at least three or four hours just trying to prepare my business," she said.
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Varcoe recorded a full-length album "Since I Fell For You," which is available on iTunes. She was inspired by legendary jazz vocalists Billie Holiday and Nora Jones.
"Just their emotional interpretation of songs and the way that when they perform it's a little bit different every time, is something that I really latch on to," she said.
Varcoe said the response to her album is exactly what she wanted. The best feedback she got was that her songs remind people of something or speak to them in some way emotionally.
And even with all of the time, money and hard work that went into making the album Varcoe says it was all worth it to continue doing what she loves.
"Because there is so much prep work, sometimes people get lost in that, and I definitely have at some times, but I never want to lose track of the reason why I am doing this which is because I love to sing"