The Academic Experience

Sixty minutes ago, I finished my fourth quarter of graduate school, and it nearly wrecked me. Oh, the classes were tough, there’s no doubt about that. The real reason though was that I wanted to amplify the difficulty for better learning opportunities. I was amazingly successful.

Don't let anyone ever tell you that college is easy or hard. College is whatever you make of it and can afford. For most in the U.S., college is the first self-designated educational experience. College is not compulsory. Therefore, college can be an experience in which you skate and make a good enough grade to qualify for graduation, or it can be a wonderfully enlightening struggle. Some will pay for the best schools in the country, some will pay for something less, but wherever you go, you get to decide what you will personally take away from the effort.

I put off my Masters degree for quite a while. Partially I realized that it was going to be expensive, and I wanted us to be in a place where we would be able to pay. We make enough that I wouldn't qualify for any worthwhile financial aid, and I also believe that we make enough that scholarships should be presented to less fortunate students. Money was definitely a good reason to set the goal aside.

The primary issue, however, was that I knew that if I was going to take on a degree program, I would get every last ounce of benefit possible. This would mean pouring myself into every single assignment, and striving for a sense of personal achievement with each experience. I wanted to walk away from the program with much more than a degree, I wanted to be reforged into something that would better myself, my family, and my employer.

We are now halfway through the experience, and I can report that I am succeeding in my goal. I see myself making connections, synthesizing new data, and performing tasks that I would have found nearly impossible a year ago. Granted, they are being performed in the safe confines of an academic setting, but the program is designed in such a way that the assignments are truly translatable into real-world aptitude.

Why am I successful? A lot of the reason comes from my professors and program faculty. In several cases, they push for excellence, and provide outstanding constructive criticism. Having received my undergraduate degree from a college that does not offer traditional grades, I have always placed more credence in the comments on papers than the point value. Additionally, these people often offer the opportunity for stretch goals. I could receive a lower grade for less quality in my work, but they entice the best possible performance through making the learning process itself attractive.

Part of the reason, of course, is my own personal drive for excellence. I am paying a very large amount of money for my experience, as is my employer. The two of us deserve to see the best fruits for our investment. I don't like the cheated feeling that results from performing inferior work. What learning did I miss by cutting corners?

Like I said above, college is what you make of it. Since it is the best single opportunity for intellectual improvement that you will have in your adult life, I encourage you to take the bull by the horns, get beyond the grades, and learn. That, after all, is what the education process is about.

Want to see what kind of work I do in my program? Click here to link to my portfolio of work.