Posts Tagged "grad school"
Crossing the finish line
My commencement ceremony from St. Mary’s was held at the end of May and I was geared up for it. I know several of my classmates opted out of participating in the ceremony but I don’t understand why you would. This is a day when you can bask in the glow of your achievement plus, do you know the loads of attention and well-wishes you get? It’s quite addicting to the attention whores, which I will admit I have a tendency of being. There was no way I was going to miss out on all of the pomp and circumstance.
There, I said it: I like being the center of attention.
Anywho, I was really excited to participate in my final academic commencement ceremony [because, let's face it: I'm REALLY done with school now], especially since I would be wearing the coveted Master’s hood along with my cap and gown. Extra ornamentation? Score! I had wanted one since I first laid eyes on them at my undergraduate commencement at Michigan. And now, I was finally getting my own. I worked hard for that hood and I was going to enjoy wearing it.
The day of my ceremony was a bit hectic since I headed up to the campus directly after church but once we got there, it was pretty smooth sailing. Until I thought my gown was broken.
What’s that you say? A broken gown? How is that possible? Well, when I went to put on my gown, I was confused when my arm wouldn’t go through what I thought was the sleeve. The bf made fun of me and my apparent lack of preparation [no, I didn't put on my gown when I received it. I was too busy running around with my Master's hood] and I slightly panicked before suggesting we hit up the library to see if they had a pair of scissors. Thankfully, as I studied the stitching to see where I could make a cut, it dawned on me that those were NOT the sleeves but just the part of extra fabric that hangs down for comedic effect [because seriously, what are those thingies and their purpose? A place for snacks?]. I will admit that I felt pretty foolish [especially since I was there...to get my Master's degree...that I apparently somehow managed to earn considering I couldn't get my stupid gown to work] until I saw several other people making the same mistake I did. Ahh, the comfort of stupidity in numbers.
We had arrived on campus about a couple hours before the ceremony was supposed to start so we took our time ambling around before meeting up with some friends of mine. I was really glad the bf was able to come watch me graduate because his support through my program was tremendous and it really wouldn’t have been the same without him. Plus, I love how I now have pictures from both of our graduations:
University of Michigan: Class of 2007
Saint Mary’s College of California, MBA: Class of 2011
We can be kind of silly
A partial group of my cohorts
Our class was the first time the school had produced one single commencement ceremony with all three graduate programs, so no one knew what to expect [we also found out that no one knew how we were supposed to wear those darn hoods either. I swear I saw a different way of wearing it on every person there. We assumed the staff would help us out but nope, they just let us do whatever]. The ceremony moved at a pretty nice pace. After failing to herd all of us into our lines in alphabetical order [as soon as our handlers got us in place, we'd wander off to chat with friends] before we began our processional into the stadium, we entered and found our seats [they had water bottles waiting for all of us!]. The keynote speaker wasn’t very good – her speech was disjointed and strange, but before we knew it, we were being led onto the stage.
The Business School was the first to graduate and because the two people before me did not attend, I was the very first person to walk across the stage. The combination of hearing my name being called, shaking the dean’s hand and seeing my family cheering for me may have went to my head a bit:
Excited much?
I later found this picture had made the commencement slideshow featured on the school’s website. Would you believe I was the ONLY person who reacted this way? I didn’t mind; the professors who were on stage certainly got a kick out of my reaction, as many of them chuckled and cheered themselves, telling me that since I worked hard for that degree and I should definitely celebrate just like that. I think I did something similar when I got my Bachelor’s so this is just my character.
This was a very memorable day for me and I enjoyed every moment of it. I’m a little sad that there will be no more graduations for me but I will look back on this one with a lot of joy. I still can’t believe those two years are over. I really doesn’t feel like it was that long ago when I randomly decided to go back to school to get my MBA, struggled through studying for the GMAT, getting my butt handed to me by the GMAT, then studied some more and somehow managed to get one really good shove in, worried about getting in and finally getting my acceptance to St. Mary’s.
A lot has happened in those two years I was in school. I did a lot of work, made some good friends, learned way more than I ever thought I would about Genentech, experienced some life changes but in the end, I walked away with my MBA. All in all, it was the best way to spend those two years. What a way to close the Legally Blonde Chronicles and my academic career eh?
Fin.
Graduating on every level
The past few weeks have been a busy one in the family: all three of us have graduated from our respective degree programs. I started the commencement marathon at the end of last month when I happily crossed the stage at St. Mary’s [recap to come!], followed by Tammy with her Associates from Gavilan College and rounded out last weekend with Lindsey’s double trips for her Bachelor’s and minor at UCLA. We’ve been busy bouncing from ceremony to ceremony but I’ve enjoyed every moment.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t until I was looking back through the pictures we took at my ceremony that I stopped to think about my dad’s obvious absence. With the three of us graduating, this would have been the year he would have probably hurt himself strutting around like a peacock because he was incredibly proud of his daughters’ achievements. I know he took every possible opportunity to boast about whatever it was we were doing at the moment. He would have probably been beside himself if he were here.
I will admit that in the midst of the hustle and bustle of my ceremony [it was one long and busy day], I didn’t think about him not being there but we were more aware of his absence at Lindsey’s graduation. Her first ceremony was held in Wilson Plaza, right in front of Janss Steps and while we were waiting for it to begin, my mom remarked how she remembered my dad walking those steps when we moved Lindsey into her dorm four years prior and how he said he looked forward to coming back for her graduation. It was bittersweet, watching her graduate and knowing that our biggest fan wasn’t there to whoop and holler with the rest of us. Though, we made the best of the situation, cracking jokes about how things could have been had he been there. Let’s just say things always work out.
But in the end, while we missed him, we didn’t let that overshadow our special days. It wasn’t a time to be sad that he couldn’t be here but to celebrate what we earned: educations that no one would be able to take away from us. He was there in spirit and that was all that really matters. He would have been proud knowing that his daughters kept pushing through all the obstacles that came our way to accomplish our goals.
We didn’t give up, Dad. We made it.
Happy Father’s Day.
Looking good on paper
I got the most wonderfullest things in the mail a couple of weeks ago: my MBA.
OMG y’all: I’m a Master of Business Administration.
How wonky does THAT sound?
But it’s true, I have the degree to prove it; all framed and awesome looking. I had my bachelor’s degree for almost 8 years before I finally framed it and it was only because I felt weird about framing my MBA first [which I had for two, count them TWO days]. Yes, I did really frame the bachelor’s first.
I know its just a piece of paper with a name on it, but it’s a piece of paper with MY name on it!
Honestly, I can’t believe its been two years. At times it went by quickly while simultaneously going by so slowly, but isn’t that always the case? I felt that way during undergrad; I couldn’t wait to be done but when I was, I couldn’t believe it had happened so fast. It felt like I had just started and now it’s over. But with that sad wistful feeling comes the realization that I won’t have to pretend to have read the readings and worry about writing papers and doing group projects. And that, my friends, is an intoxicating realization.
I had a great two and a quarter years at St. Mary’s. I met some really fabulous people and I had a ton of laughs. Of course I learned stuff, which is the whole reason why you go to grad school, most of which has actually stuck with me [which is probably more than what I can say about high school and undergrad!]. But like with high school and undergrad, sometimes its more about what you learned outside of the classroom. Things like how to civilly express your displeasure with someone without having to roll your neck and get loud [this method makes you appear even scarier and is a lot more effective]. That one will come in handy in the board room.
My last quarter in school was quite possibly one of my favorites. Not because the classes were absolutely stellar [one was, the other...not so much] but because I adored the people in my class and the professor. They made sitting in class for nearly four hours bearable and actually fun. My Ethics class was really enjoyable and I don’t think I’ve been involved in such enlightening and interesting discussions in the entire two years I was there. We actually had a strong chemistry that made the discussions so much fun, plus the professor was just a load of awesome sauce. Seriously. I honestly looked forward to this class every week. I couldn’t really say that about most of my classes.
As my grad school adventure comes to a close, I think back about all I went through to get this piece of paper with my name on it and I’m glad I did go back to school. This is not a path for everyone and while I didn’t have a clear vision on why I was really going back to school, I’m so so glad I did. Earning my Masters is a great accomplishment that I am incredibly proud of. I worked hard for this degree [well, mostly hard]; I did the work, wrote the papers, took the exams, kind of did the readings, I showed up for class. I really put in the time and effort and it resulted in a beautiful MBA.
An MBA with my name on it.
Read MoreDear blog,
I miss you. Really I do. At the moment, I’m doing battle with my term paper [well, not actually right this VERY moment, since I'm obviously using you to distract from that hot piece of mess]. You know the one I should have started a month ago but didn’t? No, not that one. No, not that one either. The other one. No…okay, okay. I do this A LOT.
But I’m going into the last week of school [FOREVER!] and things should start to settle down a bit soon. Just hang in there. I’ll be back soon. I promise.
No, this time I’m for real. Okay, so you’ve heard it all before. Just be happy I come back at all.
Wait, I didn’t mean it like that.
Read MoreNo, really, it’s in the mail!
I’m back in school for the spring quarter and it couldn’t have come at a better time. With everything going on following the funeral, I was really looking forward to having something keeping me busy during the day, to go back to some kind of normalcy that I was used to before my dad passed. And I tend to use school and/or work as a coping mechanism so not having either one was slightly stressing for me.
Adding to the stress of dealing with life was the fact that our spring break is only 2 weeks, the second shortest we have, and I was running out of time to purchase my books. I finally was able to buy my books after everything started to settle but that only left me a week before classes started so I was cutting it really close. This coming from the girl who usually purchases her books the first day of break.
Yeah, I’m an overachiever.
Anywho, I purchased my books from two separate stores, Amazon and through a seller in Alibris. The Alibris book was estimated to arrive the day before my class so I was seriously operating with no margin for error [and that was with expedited shipping!]. My Amazon book arrived later that week and I received a notice that my Alibris book shipped the Monday before classes started via USPS Priority Mail so I’m thinking it’ll show up by Friday since Alibris has been ensuring me that only a small percentage of shipments don’t arrive by the estimated date.
Friday came and went with no book. Now I’m worried and seriously hoping that they are right and the book would show up on Monday. Monday rolls around and still no book. And now I’m stressing out because if it doesn’t show up the next day, I’ll be stuck showing up to class unprepared. I never show up to class unprepared! Think Rory Gilmore and her insane need to be prepared. That’s me. Except I’m not as wonderfully verbose. The thought of showing up without my book freaked me out, to say the least. I held onto hope that it would magically appear.
This is the part of the story where I tell you that it did and all was well once again in the world. But you obviously are smart people so I won’t go further.
There I am, in class, sans book and feeling so incredibly horrible. I had to ask the professor if we had homework due for the next class and then tell him that I didn’t have my book. He had this look in his eyes that made my crazy mind go off into the inner recesses of my usually well-kept neurosis and suddenly I’m that girl who doesn’t have her book. And the entire time I’m screaming in my head, “BUT I’M USUALLY NOT THIS UNPREPARED! I USUALLY HAVE MY BOOK! I WOULD HAVE HAD IT IF IT WEREN’T FOR THAT MEDDLING ALIBRIS! IT’S NOT MY FAULT. I SWEAR!!” That was not the first impression I wanted to make.
Top that off, I didn’t even have my pencil and calculator. How on earth do I show up to a MATH-BASED class without a pencil and calculator? I have no idea where my mind was at but it certainly wasn’t where I needed it to be. And can I tell you one more thing? I mean, how much more of a poor schmuck can I manage to look on the first day of class? I don’t have a group for the group project.
I don’t know how it happened but I somehow became the last kid picked for dodgeball. And I rock at dodgeball. It’s two weeks in and I STILL don’t have a group. So there I was, first day of class, I have no book, no pencil or calculator and no group.
I felt like a winner.
But the story is thankfully far from over. My book finally decided to show up on Thursday, the same day my back up book from Amazon showed up [I ended up buying a second book in case my first one didn't show up in time for me to do my homework - I did get my shipping refunded for the trouble] and my pencil and calculator are permanently in my backpack, even though we pretty much use Excel for most of the calculations. I still don’t have an official group and I’m really not sure where I’m going to end up. I feel bad because the other groups have already started working on their projects.
I’m determined not to let the early set backs affect me in the end. I’m actually really enjoying this class and I’m totally understanding the calculations. I did an amortization table and I calculated everything correctly! I can probably create my own table for my future new car loan [more on that later]. Now if that’s not an ego boost, I don’t know what is. Go me.
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