At approximately 3:30 yesterday afternoon I delivered my (signed, but not actually sealed) thesis to the George Mason University library. I’m done! I finished grad school! I have a master’s degree in English!
It’s a bit surreal right now, but mostly I’m very relieved. And a little tired. And trying to remember what the hell I used to do in my spare time before I started school. (It’s been 4-5 years, depending on whether you count the prerequisite classes.)
I will be going to convocation instead of commencement*, and that ceremony is 2 weeks from today. I didn’t go to my undergrad ceremony, so I’m kind of looking forward to this one.
*Commencement is graduation: the big ceremony with the entire university, including undergrads and graduate students. Because of the size, graduates are only recognized by college. And tickets are required. Convocation is just for graduate students of my college (Humanities and Social Sciences), and is the ceremony where my name will get called and I’ll walk across a stage. No tickets are required, due to the much smaller crowd. It’s 2 days before graduation, and is kind of a bigger deal because of the individual recognition. My family and friends are coming to convocation, and I’ll be skipping commencement entirely.
Our school didn’t even have commencement. No one really cared.
Congrats on graduating! It’s weird - I was immensely relieved after it was all over, but now I miss those days, although in my memory they’ve all kind of blended together in a haze of cigarettes, alcohol, nicotine, and general insanity.
Really? A master’s in English? Most people I know think that it’s one of the least useful degrees. It’s actually related to my field, though: my program was Professional Writing & Editing, and I’ve been a technical writer/editor for 10+ years (I got my bachelor’s degree 15 years ago).
I’m sure that eventually I’ll miss the classroom stuff. I kind of liked being back in school. I have less than no interest in getting a PhD, but I’ve already told my SO that I could see getting another master’s someday as long as it wouldn’t require another thesis. I don’t think I’d do it while working again, though, unless a spectacular opportunity presented (and paid for) itself.
We know that you understand the secret handshake, and now have the power to levitate. Please resist the temptation to do so in front of people who have not given you the secret handshake.
Ignore the urban legend that folk with a doctorate can raise the dead. It is false, about the only thing they can do that we can’t is make themselves invisible…not a lot for three to five extra years in school, IMHO.
Mrs. Sarah Davis, the Queen of Mean way before Ms. Helmsley, 12th grade English, taught us that words could be a rapier, and the ability to truly use the language was not what enabled one to do a particular task, but rather was what enabled one to EXCEL in whatever endeavor; to be head and shoulders above those mere mortals who could do a given task but who could not put together a coherent sentence. In other words, whatever you do, those skills are your union card…but what will enable you to fly like the eagle over all others is your command of, and proper use of, The Language. (The Language was meant not as English, but whatever language is in use in one’s country)
Sigh. I ramble. I wax poetic. It’s because I am happy for you. I slobber when I’m happy.
Congrats! It must feel weird to be done with it. I’m just coming to terms that I’m getting my Bachelors next week. A Masters degree, I can’t even imagine. Well done!
If it makes you feel any better for not having one, my undergrad commencement ceremony was a blended haze of cigarettes, alcohol, nicotine, and general insanity. The insanity began at about 8:00 AM with Tecate being offered to parents who wondered who the hell their kid had been hanging out with for the past five or six years. But after that, it was really no different than any other Saturday.
(It’s been 4-5 years, depending on whether you count the prerequisite classes.)
It’s actually related to my field, though: my program was Professional Writing & Editing, and I’ve been a technical writer/editor for 10+ years (I got my bachelor’s degree 15 years ago).