I didn’t mean to not graduate from college. It was sort of an accident, spurred on by a few pushed-back due dates and incompletes, that made it increasingly simple to not finish.
Sure, I heard what “they” said: it’s so hard to go back to school once you stop, you need a degree to get a job, let alone get ahead, but I figured I’d worry about all that later. I hate it when “they” are right.
When you first get to college, it’s easy to think you have time to do everything. No parents. No curfews. This isn’t a taste of responsibility; this serving of adulthood comes super-sized from the start. Not everybody handles it well.
At first, my situation wasn’t bad. Despite a lifelong penchant for procrastination, I’d spent four years nearly finishing two degrees and dabbling around a minor. In my eighth semester, I signed up for an independent-study class. I also missed one assignment in a class of four projects, but I talked to the professor and made arrangements to do another project in its place. The independent statistics class, though, would be my downfall.
Four little exams stood—stand—between me and the piece of parchment I went to college seeking. When I watch my stat book gather dust and on the 14th of each month, when I pay my student loan bill, I kick myself a bit harder. The worst part is that the class I need to finish isn’t even in my major; my wall lacks a diploma because I blew off a gen-ed course.
Ten months have passed since my “graduation,” and the best I can say is that I’m working on it. It’s tough enough adjusting to a full-time job without having school still lurking over you. When “they” say it’s nearly impossible to go back to school after you leave, listen. You don’t want to do it. I couldn’t even tell my best friend what I hadn’t done until I wrote this column. It’s nothing I’m proud of, and the only thing I’ve learned is the value of being practical and the frustration of hindsight.
Don’t expect that someone, such as your professor, will ask about assignments you haven’t turned in. Don’t waste your time or money skipping classes. Read your syllabi. Know what’s expected of you. Talk to your adviser, but don’t assume that he or she will ensure you take the right classes to fulfill your requirements.
They’re not the ones earning the degrees. They’re not the ones who will, or won’t, get the diplomas.
