Pre-Graduation Quarter Syndrome occurs in students either entering or in the last quarter of their degree program.
As the students last quarter nears it’s end, the student may develop a general sense of apathy towards certain assignments. As the excitement of joining the industry looms on the horizon, the student may feel a waning of the urgency surrounding their grades and assignments that irrelevant to their future. This sudden decline may feel foreign and jarring, as grades and the job search have enveloped the students life for the duration of the degree program. The student must now learn to assimilate back into their life before their degree program, in which they had such things as hobbies to dedicate their free time to.
As my job search has been wrapping up, I’ve been getting more and more free time. It’s been a while since my first undergraduate degree, so I forgot what it’s like to be a full-time student with no other obligations. Since I’m taking three computer science courses, it seems like I have so many assignments to do, but I feel have quite a bit of free time on my hands. The days seem to pass by without much productivity on my end because I just can’t bring myself to do what I know needs to be done. I think this partially happens because there’s only so much computer science that one can learn in a week. It would be different if I were taking two CS courses and one humanities course. At least I would get a change of pace when I went to study up on the humanities course. As of this quarter, my brain has just been on technical mode, where there’s not much rounding out of the topics I dedicate my time to. I guess what I’m trying to say is this degree program has made my really appreciate the general education that my first degree program made me go through. Even if I didn’t see the point at the time.
I’m sure when I look back, I’ll miss school and miss having the drive to better myself day in and day out. As of now, I’m pretty burnt out. It’s been a long year and a half of dedicating my weekends and after-hours to learning. I’m pretty ready for a break, and a substantial one at that. Writing this post has made me bit nostalgic though. Looking back, I’ve had some good times, some rough assignments, but mostly good times learning more about computer science and growing as a developer. I honestly almost don’t recognize the developer that I’ve become and the situation I now find myself in. If I had to go back a year and a half, I would probably do it all over again. I’m glad to be where I am now. I’ve had some gripes with the way that some courses were taught at Oregon State, but I can’t deny that this degree program propelled me towards my current situation.
I just checked how many assignments I have left until I’m free from school for a year. As of today, November 11th, I have 20 computer science assignments left. 20 more assignments to push through until I get my second piece of paper that says “You did it.” It almost doesn’t feel real.
Funny, I was pretty unmotivated going into this post, but I guess the nostalgia of recollecting on my progress has put me in a new headspace. I think it’s time to decrease the assignment count to 19.
