As you may or may not know/remember, I’ve been working towards my bachelors degree for, basically, ever. The final piece of the puzzle was a graduating project which has been a constant source of frustration.
My prof continually changed the scope of the project, I had one project swept out from under me entirely and my prof rejected proposals based on minor writing style preferences. I’m not sure what he was thinking – I have a great writing style.
Maybe it was a good thing that I decided to put some thought into it first.
After 18 months of writing and re-writing proposals, I finally got the go-ahead to start on my actual project. Like previous experiences, my prof was less-than-available; he didn’t respond to multiple emails that I sent throughout the summer and fall, providing updates and asking for guidance.
Despite having no support, I managed to submit a first draft halfway through November; I didn’t receive any feedback for a month. With my December 31st deadline looming, I was very stressed out and worried about the whole thing. I could not ask for yet another extension.
After I received the feedback, I had a little over 2 weeks to conduct all the necessary research, write the new sections and implement all the requested changes. With the added fact that it was a very busy time at work and all the holiday celebrations thrown in there, I barely squeaked the final version in; I submitted it at midnight on December 30th.
After that, I had to submit an application for graduation, which required an audit of my courses to make sure I had all the required credits. I was basically sitting in limbo (again) waiting for confirmation and stressing out for another couple weeks.
At one point, I logged onto my school website to see if there was any movement on my application for graduation; I realized that my mark had been submitted for my project class. My heart increased in rate, my palms got a bit sweaty as I waited for the page to open. I scrolled down and saw the mark submission.
Something I didn’t know: it’s a pass/fail course. So of course the options for marks are “S” and “U”. I didn’t get a “U”, so there’s that, but it was entirely defeating to know that all my struggles over the past two years, all the stress, all the frustration, all the everything… culminated to an “S”.
Somehow that doesn’t seem fair.
But I did get my degree.
So I suppose it’s all worth it.
some teaxchers are scum!
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