It's official... I have a B.Sc.!
Well, technically I've "had" it for a while (my official graduation date was June 4th, 2020). But, the actual parchment arrived in the mail today! I'm pretty sure this technically means that I'm smart now. Like, legitimately (hint: sarcasm).
Though it hasn't felt like it given the nature of my last term, this is actually a big deal. While Bachelor's degrees are more commonplace now than they once were, they're by no means universal. And more than that, it's a point of personal accomplishment: getting this piece of paper took 5 years of my life, thousands of hours of work, and more stress and tears than I could possibly count.
It was hard, it was long, and sometimes, I really, really hated it. But I got through it, and now I have this fancy piece of paper (complete with old-timey font) as proof to the world that I can get through tight deadlines, tough courses, and teach myself entire syllabli when the professor almost inevitably proved useless (and, before anybody gets defensive: I had some good profs. A few exceptional ones, even. But there was a few that really sucked, and definitely weren't worthy of tenure).
To get all deep and stuff: the last five years have contained some of the highest highs and lowest lows I've experienced. Not that I ever doubted that I would get through it, but it's incredibly rewarding to have my degree in my possession and realize that it actually was all worth it, and the stress of chemistry is forever in the past.
For some people, finishing undergrad means they're done with school, forever. That's not quite the case for me. Even though I'll be at the same university (albeit taking classes remotely, because: pandemic), I'll be in a smaller program that's training for a legitimate profession, versus a degree programs with thousands of students all going in different directions. I'm grateful for the past 5 years, and I can't help but be excited about the next few.
Congrats to the class of 2020.
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