Kingston 6

Graduation

I graduated from the University of the West Indies yesterday with a Master's in Business Administration. Give you a quick rundown:

1. Got there late as usual, without wearing the requisite white shirt or tie so I looked a little different from every other guy there...

2. Took my space in the line and opened up the graduation programme only to NOT see my name listed! As far as I was concerned, the graduation itself was a waste of time compared to seeing my name among the list of graduates - I wasn't even on the addendum...

3. Ahh well, I was assured by an administrator that my name would be called and they double-and triple checked the list so I wasn't worried about that part.

4. So we 'processed' to sit down in the evening sunlight and were quite well seated when a burst from the heavens drenched all and sundry. Thus we were forced inside the admissions hall where we sat in our wet suits and gowns in a cramped hall for 3 1/2 hours!

5. To compound the 'misery', all those who came to see me had to stay outside under the undercroft and watch on a screen! Worse yet, the cameras weren't at the best angles so all they saw was the back of my head!

6. Well, my name WAS called and I strode across the stage took my picture and was ushered to collect my certificate which was evidently NOT THERE!

So I kinda went home disappointed, wasn't even in the mood to take too many pictures - just came home and went to my bed. At the end of the day, however, I can still have at the end of my name: BAS, MBA

One more grievance, my gown looked no different from the undergraduates! That was a major disappointment.

At my previous school, the gowns had stripes: 1 stripe for undergraduate, 2 for masters, 3 for doctoral students. At UWI, there are different coloured hoods, mine was orange, but the doctoral students wore a completely different red gown. I think the 3 stripes is my sole motivation to reutrning to my old school for a Ph.D. although it may be a BIT beyond me right now...

All's well that ends well however, and I was glad to see my classmates together one final time. The whole course was a great experience and I'm glad I did it, no regrets! Congrats to all graduates...

posted by damanimichael @ 1:08 PM