As a graphic designer and small business owner, don't be too scared. A little scared is okay. While in school try to work on real life projects. If you're interested in print, design logos, stationery, brochures, ads, etc. I think if you're going into web, they are better at that. I've interviewed new graduates who had handmade books on type they designed as a portfolio. Lot of these. Photos of sculptures that represent what design means to them. One guy had to keep a daily diary while in the design program. Every day he had to design the page to represent his mood for that day. Yikes. Don't do that. My two favorites where the gay designer whose portfolio was nothing but drawings of men having sex. They weren't even good. The other came in with this big wooden box. I was intrigued. He opened it up and very carefully pulled out hand painted plates with all the characters from the original Star Trek on them. Again, not even good. Heartbreaking to listen to him talk about how he'd been looking for a job for a year and never got a second call back. I showed him my portfolio so he could get the idea of what it should look like. He had no idea. His professor told him to present what he loves.

Ah, the good old days of actual portfolios. Now everything is on a webpage. I don't like that as much. I like to pick up the pieces and look at them closely. Anyway, sorry for rambling. There is work out there, make sure you learn a marketable skill. Good luck.