I’m graduating. It feels surreal. I feel sentimental. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
I’m graduating early: a full year early, in fact. This quarter will mark the end of my third year at UC Davis, my third and final year.
I’ve been planning this for a long time. I discovered that I was capable of graduating this early during schedule programming at orientation, and it was one of the things that I loved most about coming to UC Davis. When I found out my first quarter here that I might not be able to, I had a near-breakdown. Even though I had enough credits, because I had too many AP classes and not enough friends in high school, I wouldn’t have been able to finish all the classes I needed for my original pre-med track that made me so miserable my first year. Being able to graduate in three years after all wasn’t the only reason switching to English made me infinitely happier.
Fast-forward two years later. I’m graduating early, like I always wanted, like I’d planned, and I wish I could stay longer.
A lot of people – most I’ve told, probably – have been surprised or doubtful about my decision to graduate so early. I get it, but I don’t regret it. I might be the token humanities major in my family, which I guess makes me a dreamer by default, but I have my parents’ pragmatism: it simply doesn’t make sense to me to prolong my time here just to take random classes given how much tuition costs a quarter. Especially considering the career path I want to pursue, I’ll benefit a lot from the opportunities that have opened up from graduating early, and I’m very grateful for that.
But I admit, I feel that my time at UCD has been too short. Only two years ago, the prospect of leaving early was my only solace, and now I think a lot about how I wish I could stay longer. I’m a ride-or-die dweeb, so usually I think about all the random classes I could’ve taken. I never took a peak UC Davis class like wine-making or brewery or tractor driving. I never did take any Chinese classes like I assumed I would, or Dance, or Film Studies. I’d have loved to take more Art History classes, or a course about Islam, or about feminism, and I won’t get to.
I don’t feel like I’ve failed to make good use of my time here; in fact, quite the opposite. I look back at where and who I was when I came here and I’m amazed at everything I’ve managed to do in such a short time. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but I really do feel like I’ve met wonderful and inspiring people here. I remember I was so excited to learn that Yiyun Li, whose short stories I loved, taught here; I remember thinking it would be so great if I could take a class with her someday, and she ended up supervising my thesis! I’ve become more informed, more connected, and much, much happier during my time at UC Davis.
Photo credit: Unsplash
Because I’m graduating so early, this will be the last article I write for Her Campus at UC Davis. I’ve written for this chapter my entire three years at UC Davis, and I really wanted to make this piece count. It was supposed to be for you – for whoever’s reading this. You know, more proper advice about how to seize the day and whatnot. But, well, I got sentimental.
As an Aggie who’s graduating early – maybe too early, maybe not – make the most of your time at UC Davis. I know you’ve heard this one before and I know you’ll hear it again before it’s your turn to go, but I’m saying it anyway, because I heard this all before and I knew this was coming and it still surprised me when it did. Make your time count. Treasure it because it’ll be over before you know it. Gather your rosebuds, all that jazz.