Holy crap, I’m a Grad student!

My first time through university in the early 1990s, it’s safe to say I was an erratic student. If I liked the course, I did well. If I didn’t like it, I did poorly. If I hated it, I did the bare minimum amount of work to pass and no more.

That last statement wasn’t always true. Sometimes I didn’t pass and got to hate the course a second time.

The net result is that by the time I walked away from university (and note that I say walked away rather than graduated), I was carrying a C- average and was short three required course for my program. And that C- was a squeaker. If I convert back from the GPA scale, it works out rounding down (and not very far) to a 60.

Ultimately, while there were a couple of professors who made my life more difficult than it had to be at the time, I have no one to blame but myself. I couldn’t seem to get it into my head that, unlike in high school, I’d actually have to work to do well.

Regrets, so many.

We’re not going to cover most of the intervening time here. We’ll also skip over the hoops and conversations that got me back into school at the same institution at the tender age of 50 that I’d walked away from as a bitter, grouchy 23-year-old.

Things went a bit differently this time around. In the intervening half plus a bit lifetime, I’d developed a work ethic and a lot more focus than I had in my younger days, plus an understanding of what it took to be successful at something. The GPA this time is deep in A territory, and for a Physics degree I think that’s pretty good.

It also, along with being open to expanding my academic experiences, got me into Grad School, and into a bridge program that let me cover some of the course requirements early. I’ve talked about the Accelerated program elsewhere, but today was my first official day as a graduate student, even though technically I was on the books as of May 1^st.

Talk about bringing things full circle and starting on the next loop.

I’m tremendously happy to be where I am now and I recognize the metric shit ton of support I’ve had to get here, from my family, my academic peers, and my supervisor. The last few years have been a tough haul in a lot of ways, and if academics have been the longest part of that haul (though not emotionally the hardest part), I’m now standing on a new threshold and thrilled about it.

Be well, everyone.