My Expensive Piece of Paper

          So I have debated on how this blog will go. There is so much I would like to share, but some of it will take some back tracking. However, it's not like my life just takes a pause so I can update this blog, but as I debate on how to get my story out there, more of my story is created. It's a vicious cycle. Anyways, after reading "The Curious Case of The Dog in The Night-Time" by Mark Haddon, I have decided this blog will follow a similar pattern as the narrative in that book. You will get current blurbs and past blurbs and it will all come together to form a coherent story (hopefully)!
          Now, to today's blog. After 4.5 months, I finally got my diploma! Finally, I can prove I got an education.

Ta Da!!

          It is by far the most expensive piece of paper I own and it doesn't even have gold or diamonds on it! (Just saying UC Davis, I'm a little disappointed-- just kidding!) Not only did I get this very expensive piece of paper, I also found out I graduated with highest honors in Psychology! Now I know what you are thinking, "Wouldn't you know if you graduated with honors?" Well, not necessarily. You see, in the college I was in, you could graduate with honors with your GPA easy, however, to graduate with high honors or highest honors you had to do a Senior Honors Thesis.
          What is a Senior Honors Thesis? Well, it is a thesis in which you brainstorm up then test (aka do an experiment). After you do this thesis, you write it up, then turn it in. After that, it gets sent to reviewers (mostly professors) and they decide whether your thesis merits high or highest honors. They could also straight out hate your thesis in which you will still graduate with honors, but no high or highest attached to it. Let me tell you, a Senior Honors Thesis is not for the faint of heart. For mine, I recruited 15 people for 3 conditions. Yes, 15 is not a lot, but just wait. For each participant, they were required to come in for 4 sessions, 2 did 5 sessions. Each session was 1 hour long, equating to 62 hours of participant testing in 8 weeks. On top of that, I was a full time student with 19 units and doing 8 hours at my student assistant position at the MIND institute. Let's just say I had many 12 hour days. Then after all that, I come to find out my thesis was due a week earlier than I thought and was told the wrong turn in date. So needless to say, I rushed my written thesis in basically 3 days instead of the 14 days I thought I had (and during finals week no less). Months later, I come to find out it paid off!
          Though I worked hard for the Senior Thesis, I also worked very hard to get my degree. Many nights in which I got only 3-4 hours of sleep, which is very brutal on your body. I probably aged 10 years, no scratch that, I did age 10 years. School is completely hazardous to your health, but I did it because I have a dream that needs accomplishing. They say the things you are most proud of are the things you work hard for, and this is probably the most proud I have been of myself. I wish everyone had the luxury of going to college and getting a degree, because it is most satisfying. Hopefully, somewhere in the future, I will be able to help others go to college and achieve their dreams. Until then, this is just fuel to my fire. I want to feel this way again, and hopefully, next time it will be with my Ph.D.

Until next time..
-Cindy