The strangest thing happened yesterday. Among all the other mail (bills, the next level for Chris's Readers' Digest contest) I discovered that I graduated. One week ago, in fact, I was awarded my MA, and the faculty wrote to tell me about it.
I now have a second degree, officially. It's so strange how many more steps this process takes, at the Master's level. For my BA, I just filled out the application for graduation during the semester when I fulfilled my course requirements, and that was it. (Okay, so I still had to defend my honour's paper, but I just had to defend it, after which they gave me a grade, and it counted as course credit.) Chris didn't even remember filling out a form for graduation, because in education everyone is given them to fill out during a class time. The only way he remembered that was because I told him that the form asks you your height, for the convocation gowns.
This time, everyone around me has quite rightly noticed that I've been "finished" about a billion times. How many times did I think my thesis was "finished"? Goodness. And then after I defended, I was finished my degree requirements. After that, my thesis went through so many other levels of editing and approval, finally to be submitted to Grad Studies for library approval. After Grad Studies notified my thesis was approved, then I had to fill out my application for graduation and get my thesis bound. I have now completed the final stage: everyone has bound copies now (the library takes care of its own, and then there's my copy, and the two departmental copies -- one for the office, and one for Dr. B), and the Executive of Council approved my application for graduation and has awarded me my degree.
Now, what does this mean? How am I any different than I was last Tuesday? The main thing is that I can now get my final transcripts sent to the faculty here, so that they can consider me a full (non-conditional) student. The other thing is that, because I'm not going to attend Spring Convocation (why attend convocation after you've been working on your next degree for a whole school year?) I get to spend $42 to have them mail me my parchment early. I'll wait a while for that (until after the Christmas expenses), but that will be nice. I can frame a second one, and feel a little more qualified.
5 comments:
It may not help having a second degree. I mean, after I got my second degree? I hung it on the wall, stepped back to admire it and realized I had hung it upside down.
Actually, I think I have lost brain cells by getting that second degree. It only makes sense, considering my observation (from a season of handing out gowns at convocation) that "The more degrees you have, the fewer basic abilities you have." Those being awarded bachelor degrees had trouble mastering the idea of "alphabetical order." Several of the PhDs, on the other hand, needed help putting their robes on.
Congratulations sister
Congradulations!
Woo hoo! Many congratulations. :)
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