Evaluating one's expectations is psychologically important, for it provides a notable impact on a person's preparation for certain tasks, as well as their performance and satisfaction in their first encounters. In this connection, this study identifies the parallels between the expectations of college students about the work world with the experiences of recent graduates in the workforce. The resulting commonalities in terms of employability, salary, workload, utilization of learned hard skills, employer criteria, and work environment will help accentuate areas of development, hone the competencies required of the labor market and aid the students in developing a pragmatic understanding of the work-life after college. The study commenced in a private catholic university, using a face-to-face interview as the primary data collection procedure conducted with five (5) graduating civil engineers, as well as five (5) fresh graduates currently employed within Metro Manila. Participants in the study were sampled using the non-random sampling techniques: purposive, quota and snowball sampling to ensure sample validity. Concerning data collection, the study incorporates the phenomenological design for the lived experiences of graduates and the case-study design for the formation of student expectations. The findings of the study reveal multiple similarities between the students' expectations and graduates' experiences, suggesting that students generally have realistic expectations about the work world. However, results also show anomalous data which suggests some uncertainties in the students' perceptions. In conclusion, results further show that students' standard of certainty is increased by prior exposure to the work world through On-Job-Trainings (OJT) and internships, along with influences from the family, peers and social media. The recognition of these influences is paramount in understanding the formation of one's expectations. Future researchers should analyze the parallel and anomalous themes to determine the level of pragmatism and establish the causal relationship between them.

Keywords : Expectations; Experience; Civil Engineering Students; Fresh Graduates; Influences; Parallel.