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I just want to see if any City Data Members here have recently graduated from College and I want to see how they felt?
Did you feel sad leaving college?
Stress out with not knowing if you will find a job?
Was it the best moment of your life?
Did you celebrate this special moment with all your family and friends?
It's the month of May where lots of people graduate and my little brother is finishing his degree in Liberal Arts.
How was graduation day for you and how did it feel to get your degree?
No. But it's probably different for those of us who went back in our adult years and pursued less traditional routes? My experience with college, being an adult in my early 30s with a family, is very different from my younger sister's college experience.
It was a means to an end for me. I don't mean that in a negative way.
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Stress out with not knowing if you will find a job?
No. I'm in grad school now. There's no rush for me to find work, and when I do, it will be part time. (I have other freelance ventures I'm working on).
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Was it the best moment of your life?
Lol. No. It was an accomplishment in the "Wow! I finished that chapter of my life... 8 months early! Yay!" but not the best moment, no.
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Did you celebrate this special moment with all your family and friends?
My husband is taking me out to dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse next month. I'm excited.
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How was graduation day for you and how did it feel to get your degree?
I've already graduated. My diploma was mailed to me. It was great to finally have it. I'm not attending the commencement ceremony. It's a several hour drive and conflicts with other summer schedules we have going on. I *am* buying my cap and gown and taking pictures, however.
I just want to see if any City Data Members here have recently graduated from College and I want to see how they felt?
Did you feel sad leaving college?
Stress out with not knowing if you will find a job?
Was it the best moment of your life?
Did you celebrate this special moment with all your family and friends?
It's the month of May where lots of people graduate and my little brother is finishing his degree in Liberal Arts.
How was graduation day for you and how did it feel to get your degree?
I graduated last year. I felt mostly relieved. I was a traditional student (18 when I started college, 21 when I graduated) at a large SEC school (think of a stereotypical large college - frat parties every night, huge emphasis on sports, etc - you've got UGA).
Not really sad about leaving UGA. Mostly happy. I can honestly say that I hated my college years.
Had a job lined up from October of the previous year.
Not really the best moment.
I only went to the small computer science graduation. my parents and I went to lunch afterwards. Lunch for the 3 of us was $20 total aka dirt cheap. my econ graduation ceremony and the real commencement was the day after the cs graduation. I had no desire to spend extra time in Athens.
good for him.
you usually get your degree mailed to you a few months later.
I just want to see if any City Data Members here have recently graduated from College and I want to see how they felt?
Did you feel sad leaving college?
Stress out with not knowing if you will find a job?
Was it the best moment of your life?
Did you celebrate this special moment with all your family and friends?
It's the month of May where lots of people graduate and my little brother is finishing his degree in Liberal Arts.
How was graduation day for you and how did it feel to get your degree?
Mine was not recent (17 years ago), which skews some of the things you ask, but others are pretty timeless.
Did I feel sad leaving college?
Yes, in many ways, although I was excited, if a bit anxious, for the next chapter. I had been involved in some activities that resulted in making some very good friendships, but I attended a very regional private liberal arts school, and about 75% of students were from in-state, and most of those from a specific metro area. I wasn't, I was from out of state, and didn't plan on staying/settling in the state where I went to school. Most of my peers were from there and were planning on staying in that metro. I was worried I'd lose touch with some of my best friends (coda to that is that the best friends I made, I've definitely stayed in touch with). It was a small, tight knit community in general, and my circle was even more tightly knit.
Stressed out with not knowing if I would find a job?
A bit, even though it was a pretty booming economy. My stress came from the fact that I'd trained to be a high school teacher, and in my final semester, student taught and had an awful experience, which turned me off teaching for many, many years. I had no real plan B. I ended up joining an Americorps type volunteer program and spending a year doing urban social work as a volunteer, getting room and board from the agency I volunteered with, which ended up being a wonderful experience that highly impacted the trajectory of my life. But, upon graduation, I didn't even yet know if I'd been accepted into that program, so, yes, there was some anxiety.
Was it the best day of my life?
It was absolutely memorable and I felt proud of my accomplishment. It's hard to rank "best moments," though. It was pretty high up there. One thing that makes it really special in my memory is that my grandma made the 500 mile trip with my family to see it, and it was probably the last time she was still pretty lucid, before more pronounced dementia set in. She was always very proud of my academic achievements, all throughout life, and I'm glad she got to see me graduate.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I just finished a masters program, @ post age 50.
I was sad for the students:
1) that so many professors were terrible and 'stuck' in acadamia because they are likely unemployable elsewhere
2) many students were getting financial aid from their parents, so students didn't demand a better value for their dollars spent
3) students were very naive, had not worked in their chosen career field, even as a grunt
4) changed majors, because they were confused and fearful and could afford to change / prolong their time in school
5) social climate was not very conducive to academics. (Too many 'just escaped from home')
It really is a good idea to take a few years off after HS (or during) and work for The MAN.... My kids paid every dime of college, and were well served by that. 10 yrs later.... They have a little college debt at 2.7%, so are in no hurry to pay off. They travel a lot internationally and ate deeply engaged in community service. No regrets.
I graduated 5 years ago and was certainly naive of the world I was walking into, rather jumping into. In my program of study the professors made it seem like employers would be lined up at the graduation ceremony with a hiring bonus check in hand. This is of course because thats how it was 20 years ago when they worked a little bit before moving on to get their Phd. They have had little interaction with the business world since.
You get a rush from graduating, and knowing it's complete, but let's just say it's a long way down from that natural high in the few months after.
The job search can be a trainwreck unless you know what you're doing, going for further standardized testing and applying to graduate schools if that's your path is nerve-wracking, and you will feel like a mentally diseased mess until you eventually land in either a graduate program or the first job, both of which present their own unique set of challenges.
I graduated about 5 years ago. For me, the moment was bittersweet as I was sad to be leaving an institution/friends that I had come to love behind, but still happy to be moving forward with my life. Given that I was going to grad school directly after, though, I didn't have the same job that, perhaps, someone embarking on employment/earning an income would have. No, that joy came after grad school!
Mine was 30 years ago so it may not fit the question, but I'm not so sure things were all that different. I didn't actually attend the graduation ceremony. Went to dinner with my parents and packed up.
Was I sad? Strange mix. I attended a state flagship research U, but never felt any of the supposed issues with flagships. I had small classes, knew my professors, etc yet also participated in world class research. So I was sad to be leaving an environment where knowledge, learning, and freedom to think were encouraged but was also excited to start the next phase of my life.
Stress out from not finding a job? Nope. I graduated in May and started a job in November. In between I took some graduate courses to fill time.
Best moment of my life? No. Pretty much just a transition. Exciting at the time, but not the same as first meeting my wife, getting married, kids being born, their events in their lives.
I loved college and the academic freedom it brought. Perhaps the biggest regret is that even though I completed my MS a few years later, I didn't go on and get my PhD.
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