« Behind the scenes… literally | Home | 5 Things They Don’t Tell You About Climbing Outdoors »
So I’m graduating in 3 years
By Julia S. | October 21, 2012
No point in prevaricating, right?
I came to this realization two-ish months ago, and let me tell you, it was weird.
First: Suspicion regarding the ease of it all.
I can graduate a year early without ever taking more than 16 hours at a time, and still have 3 classes to spare my last semester. And yes, I’ll have taken enough hours for this to happen. It’s kind of a mystery to me, too. Although taking a full class load in Spain this past summer and coming in with community college credit explains some of it.
Second: Sadness.
I’m excited to be finishing a whole year early, but depressed, too. I came a thousand miles to go to school here, and it’s all been worth it. So for undergrad to all be over in three years is just off. I feel like I’m just getting started, and next year will be it. Of course there’s grad school, and I’m certainly applying here, among other places.
In some ways, I guess I’m also sad because it means things aren’t simple anymore. I guess I came into college with this romanticized view that everyone in the Class of 2015 would all graduate together and celebrate everything together and there would be rainbows and cake and happiness and memories. And there are a lot of those things. But some of us will be done early, while others will graduate later– for a lot of valid reasons. We may all start together, but we won’t finish together. There’s nothing inherently bad about that, but it’s still surreal.
It’s not all weirdness though. I’m happy too. This spring I’ll be taking my last 2 ‘normal’ Spanish classes before moving on to my senior seminars. That whole, ‘finally getting into your specific major classes’ person is me! I’m taking honors Spanish Phonology and Contrastive Structures of Spanish and English (I don’t know what that means, either).
And then there’s the fact that this means other pleasantries get moved up a year early, too. Like studying for the GRE. And making sure I’ll have accomplished everything I wanted to in undergrad. So…
Rude Awakening: DO NOT PUT THINGS OFF IN YOUR COLLEGE CAREER! No need to run around with your hair on fire either, but don’t let complacency get the best of you! You do have plenty of time, but time moves faster here than you think!
Pleasant Surprise: I think our win yesterday over Purdue speaks for itself.
In firm friendship,
Julia Rose S.
Topics: Academics, Author, Classes, Julia S., Personal, Schedules, Stress, Student Life, The Future | Comments Off
Comments are closed.