Well, I just finished the last final of my undergraduate career. I wouldn’t say it went terrific, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t bomb it. Surprisingly, I think I may pull an A in there (Science and Civilization in Islam).
Now all I have to do is finish my thesis. The good news is, my hypothesis works! I have the testing coded and operating, and I’m getting results. Not spectacular results, but promising. I have to bust my ass all day today to write it all up. I’m just waiting on my word processor to download (ain’t free software for Linux great?).
More good news – assuming I turn this in tomorrow, I get to graduate cum laude! I was really hoping that was going to work out, and it did! It’s pretty cool – I get to wear a hood at graduation.
I had to say some goodbyes last night, which was painful. It isn’t helped by the fact that I still don’t know if it’s goodbye for good or not. I almost think I have to be here in the fall, just because I haven’t said goodbye to everyone yet!
Dr. Havlicek, my research advisor, said something that made sense yesterday, though. He said, “It’s only a couple years more pain to get a Master’s, so just bite the bullet and do it.” He was speaking abstractly, of course, not to me in particular. He also pointed out that when you’re working, yes, the company will often pay for it, but you owe them a certain number of years in return. Then, you often have to leave the company to make the Master’s pay. So basically, you don’t even get the benefit of a Master’s degree for five years after you earn it. On the other hand, you can pay for it yourself and then start out with it, and not be tied down to anyone. Interesting perspective.
After my Software team refused to let me help with the presentation, then they graded me down on peer evaluations for not participating! I already lodged a complaint with my professor – it contributed to lowering me a letter grade, after all. I am not exactly a happy camper in that department, to say the least. I’m not exactly losing sleep over it, though – I don’t need it to graduate.