Reflections on Becoming a Master of the Arts

Wow, that's a fancy-pants title, isn't it?

But I walked in the Johns Hopkins/KSAS graduation this morning, so I  now officially am/have a Master of Arts in Communication.

It was a much different graduation experience than those I've had before. To start with, it was my first time actually setting foot on the Hopkins Baltimore campus. I used to drive by it all the time when I worked in Baltimore, and I had been to the bookstore, Starbucks and a couple of other shops near Charles Street. But all the classes for my Masters program, minus the one online, were held on the DC campus. So I wasn't really a "traditional" student and didn't feel a part of the campus the way I did when I graduated from UMBC. In fact, it wasn't until recently that I even knew, for example, that the JHU mascot was a blue jay.

I also finished my last class in December of last year, making a spring graduation sort of anti-climactic.

So yeah, grad school was a lot different than undergraduate, but I'm still glad I did the whole ceremonial walk in my cap-and-gown thing. Even if that cap and gown did cost $120. I had briefly considered going to yesterday's campus-wide graduation as well, but then decided that was too much.

It was interesting to line up in the gym (way to early, honestly) and compare similar experiences with people from my program I hadn't met, as well as a few I had. I talked a little to Sheena, with whom I had taken Media Relations, and who also finished the program. There were a few people I had classes with who were listed in the program but didn't show up. Again, with a part-time Master's degree program, a lot of people couldn't take off work or just didn't feel like driving from the DC area up to Baltimore.

It was also the first of all my graduations to be held outdoors, and of course it rained. And was cold (for May). And very windy. I kept wondering if I was going to lose my cap, which was too big and which I didn't think to safety-pin. Thankfully they presented us graduates first and then commenced (har) with the other stuff. People around me started bailing before they everyone even finished walking. I made it until the end, then decided it was too cold and damp to sit around any longer. I heard a few opening remarks (about the sacrifices we made for our education) in introduction of the main speaker, whose name I cannot recall.

It was a lot of pomp-and-circumstance, but I'm glad I went and at least walked. It makes the whole degree seem somehow more official, even if I was a "non-traditional" student.