Spring 2026 is officially over. Four courses completed. And after submitting the final exam for the last course, I experienced a feeling unfamiliar to graduate students: Silence. No deadlines.No discussion boards.No professor casually posting: “Just one final reminder.” That sentence alone has caused more stress than actual exams. The strange part is that this is already my second master’s degree.
Category: Grad School
The Moment You Finally Check There is always a small moment of hesitation before checking grades. You log in.You find the page.You hover over the link for a second. Even when you think things are going well, graduate school has a way of surprising you. Sometimes pleasantly. Sometimes not. So this week I checked my midterm grades for the Spring
The Academic Finish Line After Fall 2026, something strange will happen. I will officially be done with school. Not “taking a break.”Not “considering another program.”Not “thinking about a certificate.” Done. At that point I will have earned two undergraduate degrees and two master’s degrees. That is already more time in classrooms, lecture slides, discussion boards, and research papers than I
It Starts With Good Intentions Spring break begins the same way every year. You tell yourself this will be the week where everything gets organized. You will get ahead on readings. You will outline papers. You will clean up your notes and maybe even get a head start on that project that has been quietly sitting in the syllabus since
Spring semester in graduate school always starts with a lie. The calendar promises renewal. The weather hints at longer days. The emails sound cheerful, supportive, almost gentle. You open your laptop on day one thinking this time will be different. You are rested. You are organized. You are ready. Then you open the syllabi. Four of them. Geostatistics and Spatial
Progress is quiet. It looks like finished work, closed phases, and the discipline to move on without applause. It’s Been a While It’s been a while since I wrote something here. Yes, I’ve been busy. Busy in the unglamorous way. The way that does not photograph well and does not come with motivational captions. The kind of busy that does
Approval feels good. Data availability humbles you. The False Victory You think the hard part is getting your topic approved.You polish your proposal, you lace it with academic keywords like geospatial, climate, temporal analysis, and you hit “submit.” You wait. You overthink. You refresh the page as if Canvas is a stock ticker. Then one day, the professor replies: Approved.