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 2026 semester in the Master of Applied Science in Geospatial Information Technology (MAS-GIT) program.
And there it was.
Four classes.
Four A’s.
For a few seconds I just stared at the screen to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.
What the Semester Looks Like
The semester itself is not exactly easy.
Each course tackles a different side of geospatial analysis, and they all demand serious thinking.
Here is where things stand at midterms:
- GIS 514 – Geostatistics & Spatial Analysis: A
- REM 617 – Image Analysis & Information Extraction: A
- GIS 610 – Advanced GIS & Applications: A
- GIS 691 – GIS Capstone I: A
Seeing that list looks neat and organized.
Getting there was a mix of research papers, GIS labs, data analysis, and more thinking about spatial patterns than I expected when the semester began.
Graduate School While Working Full-Time
The interesting part is that this is happening while working full time.
Most mornings start with regular work. Servers, infrastructure projects, cybersecurity concerns, and the usual stream of emails and technical issues that come with running IT systems.
Somewhere in between those responsibilities, the student life begins.
A research article gets opened during lunch.
A GIS assignment gets worked on in the evening.
A discussion post gets written when the house finally gets quiet.
After a while your brain just switches modes.
One moment you are troubleshooting systems, the next you are thinking about spatial statistics and raster analysis.
The Capstone Is Where It Gets Real
The class that matters most this semester is GIS 691 – Capstone I.
This is where the program shifts from learning theory to actually building something useful. The capstone project focuses on analyzing risk and resilience of water and wastewater infrastructure using GIS.
The goal is to combine infrastructure data with hazard information and spatial analysis methods to understand how systems might be affected by things like flooding, earthquakes, or other disruptions.
It is the kind of work that moves beyond classroom exercises and starts touching real-world problems.
Which makes it both exciting and a little intimidating.
When Things Start Clicking
Something interesting happens after spending enough time in graduate school.
In the beginning everything feels overwhelming. New concepts, unfamiliar tools, academic writing, and the constant feeling that everyone else probably understands things faster.
But eventually things start clicking.
You read research papers faster.
You understand what professors are really asking.
You start connecting ideas across different classes.
The work does not become easier, but it becomes clearer.
Only Halfway Through
Midterms are done, but the semester is only halfway finished.
The real stretch is still ahead: final projects, deeper analysis, and continued progress on the capstone research.
But for now, seeing those grades felt like a small confirmation that the effort is paying off.
Four classes.
Four A’s.
Not bad for someone balancing graduate school, a full-time job, and the occasional attempt to remember what free time used to look like.
If everything goes according to plan, Fall 2026 will be the finish line.
Until then, it’s back to reading papers, analyzing data, and surviving the rest of the semester.