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What I learned in college
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Posted by sunnica Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments I finally finished. 
After nine years of courses, two parking tickets, carpal tunnel syndrome, and several thousand dollars, I have my college degree.  
Going to college is like embarking on an expedition to a foreign land — exciting, but at the same time unnerving because of the fear of the unexpected.How will I do? Will I make it out alive? Will I finish? Will there be anyone left at home by the time this journey ends?
I took my last final exam at noon on a Wednesday, and as I was leaving CSUB’s campus for the last time as an undergraduate, I reflected on all I had learned.
I learned that no matter how many times you circle CSUB’s parking lot stalking anyone walking north and wearing a backpack, you will still get to class faster by parking near the soon-defunct soccer fields and hiking back to campus.
I learned that the smell of a spilled Starbuck’s mocha will stay in a backpack for two quarters. Otherwise, caffeine is your best friend.
I learned that if patience and understanding were assigned a monetary value, my husband and children could have left me years ago to enjoy a life of world travel.
I learned that persistence isn’t really a virtue, but it should be rewarded with honors. Students are responsible for their own college requirements and should not rely on a counselor.
Welcome to Real World 101: if you aren’t watching your credits, no one is.
However, on an inspirational note, I also learned that a diploma cannot possibly signify the sacrifices some students make to earn a bachelor’s degree.
For the student who gave birth the weekend before the winter quarter and then spent the first night of class caring for her episiotomy wounds, there will be no elaborate cords to wear at graduation.
The diploma will not bear a gold seal for the young woman who showed up to take her midterm on the same morning she learned that her dad died.
Employers will never know the commitment of a student who went a week beyond her pregnancy due date, gave birth, and returned to her chair for Monday night’s class.
The transcripts of a 40-something mother will not detail the elementary school programs and field trips she missed because of term paper deadlines.
Trump, take notice: how many of your Ivy League apprentices juggled children, a spouse, a job, and still graduated magna cum laude?
Lucky for some, though, college transcripts hide failures, too.
I learned that when professors assign “group” tasks, one student always takes charge and does most of the work, while the other students say nothing, do nothing and contribute nothing.
I learned that no matter how many times a teacher reiterates the due date for an assignment, there will be at least five students who forget or who just didn’t have time.
Again, diplomas won’t tell.
In the end, I learned that starting college at my age or waiting until one has a spouse and three children in toe is insanity; my youngest daughter has no memories of me before I was a harried college student. I missed working in her classroom, avoided field trips, and I was often edgy while helping with her homework.
I hope I don’t open The Southwest Voice one day to find an article by her titled, “How My Mom Shortened My Childhood with her College Career.”
Good times.
My final lesson came just two days ago at an unlikely place: my mailbox.
I learned that opening my mailbox to find the diploma I had worked nine years to earn had the same effect on me as looking at my newborn baby or finding my birthmother: I stood on the curb and cried tears of relief— tears that washed away all the doubts or questions I had about my decision to go to college.
I finally had my degree.
The journey was over.

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