To be a bit sad about graduation?

[QuestionableMouse]

Today is my graduation day from uni.

I was really excited to do it properly but if course that hasn't happened. They're putting on an online celebration but it isn't the same. We're having a small family tea party too but I feel a bit sad to be missing out on the proper experience.

And to make matters worse, I don't even have my certificate as they're not being printed until next week!

Was hoping to do a few photos with it but that's not going to happen either.

That sucks.

I'll tell you what we were told at our graduation (over 20 years ago, but is still true!)

Aren't you clever? Well, the test of how clever you really are comes now. The cleverest amongst you will find something you love doing and find someone to pay you to do it. Adam Hart-Davies. (who was awarded an honorary degree at our ceremony)

Find something you love and make it work has been my motto since I started this whole return to education thing to be honest!

Totally understandable.

Congratulations on your degree.

Yeah, that’s pretty disheartening, a few unis near us have done online zoom graduations and I’ve seen a few students have made mock certificates just for photos.

Happy graduation and have a lovely day with your family!

Hopefully you can celebrate in style once some normality has resumed.

Aww Congratulations and well done.

I'd be sad too! I love graduations. I've been to 5 so far and I'll get to go to another one next year. Iv always enjoyed them. I love the faffing about and aimlessness of them. 😅 I don't even mind the boring ceremonies.

Hope you have a lovely day👩🏻‍🎓🧑🏻‍🎓👩🏻‍🎓🧑🏻‍🎓👩🏻‍🎓

Yes it is sad. One of the many casualties of the virus. My DD had an online graduation last week though and it was much more fun than I expected. We all dressed up, took photos in the garden afterwards, made a fabulous feast for the evening, and had a great day.

Do you get a real one next year? I think most unis are doing that,

YANBU.

I finished uni last year, but because our course (nursing) ran until autumn, we didn't get to graduate with the other 2016 students. And obviously now this year's ceremony has been cancelled, so I'll just be at work. Oh, well. It's not the worst thing that's happened to us in 2020!

Just to reassure you, the certificates in all the graduation photos are all just rolled up pieces of paper with a ribbon round them!

Did you actually want to go though? Graduation ceremonies are worse that Ash Wednesday mass. You made it through your degree, that’s what counts. Well done

You get to be sad. I didn’t know a lot of people on my masters, so for me it wasn’t about saying goodbye to friends. At my graduation the chancellor told us that this was a day for frivolity. This was our reward for all our hard work. One ceremony doesn’t recognise all the times you had to stop doing something else to focus on your studies or when we pushed past our comfort levels to dig deep. Graduation is just a small symbol of what we’d achieved but we should enjoy the day and reflect on what we’d done. Even though it was a small symbol it was important we recognise our achievements, big and small. It was also for our families and partners who have supported us through the process. A moment for us to thank them and a moment for them to be proud of us.

You get to be upset. Graduation, especially returning to education is a big deal. Try and make a nice day of it. You can still recognise all the sacrifices you’ve made and what you’ve achieved, just in a slightly different way. If your graduation is held properly next year - then you get two days to celebrate how awesome you are!

@Hillarious

Just to reassure you, the certificates in all the graduation photos are all just rolled up pieces of paper with a ribbon round them!

Oh I know that but I'd been planning on full on pics of the actual certificate.

I did want to go. I'm a mature student who went back to education and I've worked damn hard to get my degree. It would have been really nice to finish it off properly.

It's probably also not helping that I've just had a row with my mum as the first thing she said to me this morning was "oh, I could do without this today."

Errr right. Cheers mum...

Congratulations ! It is a shame for you - a proper marking of the end of all that effort.

One of my DDs has just graduated from a post grad and they had what she described as a deeply weird zoom version of graduation - but they have a ‘proper’ one scheduled for the Spring now .

They're talking about putting one in in the autumn but I'm not sure anything concrete has actually been planned.