Congratulations Class of 2017!

Congratulations to all my fellow graduates! Having taken the whole of yesterday to sleep, I have finally recovered enough to write a little about my experience.

So here, I shall share my thoughts on this wonderful and frankly, a little overwhelming day!

Gowns

For graduation, graduates are required to hire and wear a gown which is classed according to their college. I remember being so interested in seeing other students walk around with theirs so it was strange having to wear one of my own. All I can say is that you will spend a lot of time adjusting your gown because it seems to have a dynamic existence of its own! It is not as comfortable as it looks but they do look lovely on photographs. I made extra sure that everything fitted properly before I left the booth which provided the gown hire, so I would highly recommend doing the same! Otherwise, the queues are extremely long on the day (a lot of the day is spent lining up, so bring entertainment and food!).

Cohort

My favourite part of the day, aside from having my family celebrate the event with me, was being around my cohort. Being separated from most bioscience students from second year onwards basically meant that this was the perfect chance for me to see some old faces  – and put some names to new ones! It is really great being able to support everyone as they make their way across the stage looking nervous. Although it hasn’t fully settled in my head yet, it is really sweet to think that I’d spent three full years with my coursemates and the fact that I get to close this chapter with them made it more meaningful.

Photographs

I am not a photography enthusiast by any means but prepare to be pulled into photographs from left, right and centre! Knowing it was a special occasion, I allowed myself to take all the selfies imaginable. If you’re like me, my top tip to make sure you have the perfect graduation smile is to have as much sleep as possible the night before! The day is long – I can’t stress that enough.

Pride

The entire day is about celebrating achievements. I’m not the sort to celebrate that often, so it was a bit foreign but well worth all the efforts. Again, I think it will take time for me to fully appreciate the amount of work I’ve put in the past three years, but I don’t think there’s a better way to mark it than holding the degree certificate in my hand!