Two things. 1. If you hated it maybe it was the wrong choice, 2. You can walk in the spring commencement if you want to, that’s what I did for grad school.
I love engineering, I hated University. The framework of school is not for everyone and reading 300 pages of complex stuff every week for 4 years is boring to death and it isn’t for me, and for a lot of people.
School of all levels caters to one type of learning, and not everyone is good with that style.
Validation need not come from anywhere outside yourself. Set your own goals. Do your best. Pat yourself on the back. People who ‘recognize’ you only do so superficially anyway. No one can truly know what you’ve done or where you’ve been.
I mean, sure, but it is still nice to have some external validation now and again you know?
In monetary form even.
…said the mouse in the maze.
How about climbing over those walls, up the leg of the biggest scientist, enter through the eye socket, and hollow out that skull. That’s all the validation anyone needs. Yum!
Now you made me want to read Enders Game again. Cheers!
If one is not inclined to social gatherings but still feel a need for something to signal this passage (or any other), a good option is to perform a personal ritual of choice.
Human brains seem to be inclined to appreciate symbolism.
While I agree with the sentiment, I don’t think that the lack of ritual is the underlying problem here.
The school to hospice informal incarceration pipeline is omnipresent for the working class, and college/trades level is right there in the middle. Right after kid jail and before wage slavery.
I dunno, I prefer this to having to take care of cows and growing my own crops.
Life and the endless crushing need for resources is the prison.
False dichotomy. This has nothing to do with cows and crops on some imaginary “farm”. In reality there’s no actual need for people to slave away their whole lives serving capital just so we can destroy the planet.
I just didn’t go to my graduation ceremony, despite there being free dinner. Was (and had been for ages) struggling with pretty bad depression and didn’t feel I deserved any of it.
I graduated in the winter in 2023, didn’t attend the ceremony or anything. I have really bad social anxiety so the ceremony seemed like more stress than a celebration for me, I just ordered food and relaxed. But I do remember, after walking out of my last final, thinking “damn do that’s it huh”, I know it’s just a bachelors degree but I didn’t believe in myself enough to even think I’d ever actually graduate. Things turned out okay though, even had a job lined up before graduation which was lucky given the current job market for software engineering. Believe in yourself, your hard work got you that degree, proud of you man!
Thanks. I’ve done pretty well for myself, I’d like to say. I landed a nice job around six months later and have been able to show my talent pretty well. Due to fighting with depression I entered the workforce around ten years after most of my peers. As an engineer, I’ve caught up the median pay for my peers with 15 years more experience. Can’t complain.
Didn’t go to any of mine outside of high school because I was a kid and my parents could force me on that one. By the time I finished grad school I really felt like I was just another person in an increasingly growing rat race. It’s not even that I haven’t accomplished anything so much as I haven’t accomplished anything particularly unique that sets me apart and grants me intellectual value.
I also skipped my graduation. But just because I don’t like that kind of stuff.
Why do you feel like you didn’t deserve to graduate? I’m sure you did deserve it.
Felt I didn’t deserve to celebrate. Depression messes up with your brain big time.
I get you. It’s hard to think otherwise when all the world is a grey mist.
I have an MSc and have spent the day cleaning gutters, I have no idea what to do and am unsure whether I’d be better off dead.
It’s what being an adult is like. You don’t study for the fanfare, you study for a goal or for yourself.
That and if you have a significant other, you might also score a celebratory shagging.
Edit: Never mind, just realized this is an anon on 4chan posting about engineering school.
I’m kind of surprised; most colleges and universities I’ve seen still have a ceremony for people graduating at the end of the fall semester. It’s not nearly as elaborate as the one ending the spring semester, but it’s still something.
Still, most of life is going to be like that. Usually no real ceremonies for the last day on the job. Move out of your old house/apartment is a lot of work at the end and then you lock the door for the last time.
Congratulations, you’re an adult now.
I think it’s practical. I haven’t known many engineer types to make a huge deal of graduation per se. It’s just the next step in a bigger procedure.
Slight difference; being an ex on has the opposite effect on your ability to get a job.
Agreed, Exxon is a horrible company but I hear the pay is good. It would be tough for an ex-con to get a job as well.
Oof, touché.
Leaving it as is.
We are, we are, we are, we are
We are the engineers!
We can, we can, we can, we can
Demolish forty beers
Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, drink rum
And come along with us!
'Cos we don’t give a fuck about anyone else
Who don’t give a fuck about us.
That’s what the first engineer I ever met said, but to be fair he was a combat engineer. Those guys are scary. Stick to electronics and bridges…
I’ve never attended a singe scholarly celebration since my middle schools where I went and realized that it was completely pointless
plus the whole preparation and fanfare is draining for me, id like to actually celebrate by relaxing not stressing over an event
I feel that. Too many people, and most are just sitting there, looking at other people and clapping.
Getting out of the military is a lot like that as well
Yes, schools are prisons. Their purpose is not education at all but rather indoctrination, filtering, privilege, control, etc.
As a rule, strong feelings about issues do not emerge from deep understanding.
Are you struggling with your maths homework, sweetpie?
Good job anon. Now take a long break and get back to it when you have your long term goals sorted.
Til 22-year-olds have long term goals
That’s what the long break is for.
Imagine being privileged enough to take a long break and have long term goals.
Oh yeah, it’s an absolute thrill to crash on your friends couches and work menial jobs to buy weed.
Sure he can jump right into the workforce but the guy said he feels like getting released from prison. I’m suggesting he just bum around for a bit.