Saying farewell to Cornell: What it’s like graduating in December

So, this weekend was graduation and after four and a half years toiling away in Ithaca, I am finally done.

Returned my cap and gown yesterday, packed up a quarter of my stuff…and donated the other three-quarters. I cleared my apartment.

The craziest thing is that I walked in May. I got the pomp and circumstance ceremony out of the way, so I shouldn’t have been nervous about the smaller December ceremony, right? And yet, as I prepare for this next stage in my life, life beyond college, I’m more scared than ever. No longer can I just ask a professor for an extension because I have other responsibilities. No longer can I skip a day because I’m “not feeling well” without any repercussions. Its time for real life now.

As I move forward into the “next steps” (as interviewers call them—so many times to the point where I have the steps memorized), I know Cornell has thoroughly prepared me for life ahead.

I am very fortunate to have the skills and qualifications Cornell has given me over the years because most recent grads definitely don’t have this much real life experience under their belts as they move into entry-level jobs. Because I am Big Red, I can leave campus tomorrow knowing that I am prepared, I am qualified, and I am confident.

No matter how much this place tears us to pieces and makes us wish we’d chosen another school, there’s no better feeling than knowing that we made it out of Cornell. We made it. We rose from the ashes left from prelims, term papers and endless finals to become an alum of one of the greatest institutions in the world.

And it feels so amazing to walk through campus on the last day as an official alum, knowing that we have done what most only dream of: become an Ivy League graduate.

So, as I write this final farewell to the place that has become my home away from home over the last four-and-a-half years, all I can say is that I am truly grateful for my Big Red family and the memories I have made on this very steep hill.

Cornell has given me the collegiate experience of a lifetime — from the blurry Slope Days to pulling three all-nighters in a row to finish two group papers to the times dancing away in Pixel (#RIP).

I bid you farewell, Ithaca, and I can’t wait to return to visit as an employed alumna in May.