Graduation was just as ridiculous as I expected it to be! It wasn't just me who wasn't looking forward to it, many other people didn't want to be there but to keep their families happy obviously they had to be. For me, it was just as much about celebrating the end of being tied to an incompetent institution as it was officially finishing my degree. I suppose it is a bit sad that it had to end that way but I take solace in the fact I'm wasn't alone in my feelings.
The ceremony itself was awful, but more on that in a later post. Yes folks, I'm afraid you're going to have endure just one more exceedingly bitter post from me on my time at university. Whilst you might not be interested and some of you may entirely disagree with what I have to say it is important for me in terms of closure, at least from a blog point of view. It will only be one more post, I promise. I've have learnt some medicine in the last 5 years (I hope) but I've learnt more about life and people which will probably be a lot more useful in the future.
As I told the alumni association, I want nothing more to do with you, as far as I'm concerned I'm not a University of Manchester graduate, I'm a medicine graduate.
Watch this space...
Thursday, 10 July 2008
I'm Free
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13 comments:
Did they play "The Bear Necessities" as you left? We had our very solemn (and boring...) ceremony ruined by a particularly poor rendition as we excited the building!
Hope at least your parents had the opportunity to be proud!
Oh dear. It is fair to say that recent graduation ceremonies have not exactly been - how shall I put this? - pushing the boat out. Times are hard.
Seeing as it is the Univ of Gloomche... I mean, Manchester, can I remind you of the immortal Mancunian advertising slogan:
"If you don't get Boddies....
...you'll just get bitter"
Which reminds me that Boddies did have some classic ads back in the 90s - see e.g. here and here.
Although my personal fave from our producer of the quintessential Northern pint - now sadly no longer brewing up behind Strangeways Prison - is this one (needs sound turned up).
Anyway, Bon Voyage... and spare a thought for us lifers...
Didn't realize the PBHell was that bad in Manc, good thing I didn't apply...
I went to a Manchester graduation ceremony the other year and it was a bit tedious, but so what? It's a rite of passage, a formal public recognition of your qualification, and a moment for your parents to brush away a silent tear. I certainly did.
Ours was a shambles as well. As you say, you're well out of there and now we are doctors, so enjoy your summer!
You're a doctor now so you 've got everything you need :-D
Enjoy your summer...!
I can't believe they the grandparents queue up, outside, in the pouring rain for 45 minutes before the ceremony. (Obviously everyone did this, but it's a bit harsh on the grandparents eh?) And then at the end of the ceremony they were YELLInG at people to "get out of the building as quickly as possible" back to the downpour. There was no reception afterwards!
*shock*
I liked that at my graduation there was no clapping (actually allowed people to focus more on the graduates rather than aching hands) and a ban on photography/video cameras - the amount of people standing up/pointing lurid LCDs to the front at yours - and then checking them in huddles and discussing if they 'got them' or not - seems absolutely ridiculous.
The Harold Shipman mentions were rather inappropriate...
Who mentioned Harold Shipman at a graduation ??! Do tell...
And no photography?? When I had my graduation ceremony my mother insisted I buy two tickers - one for her and one for a large-format camera (film, it was a long time ago)on a tripod (sic). My dad, fortunately for him, couldn't make it.
I suppose no photography does give the Univ the monopoly with a strategically-placed man with a digital SLR.
I should say that while it is easy to be cynical about Univs bilking the parents, it was the same when I graduated well over 20 years ago.
But Andrew Brown is right.. it is really a symbolic event.
Finally, it is sad but a truism that the Manchester weather is notoriously uncooperative.
congrats on graduation! :) sorry to hear your ceremony was rubbish though :\
Congrats and enjoy the freedom! :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hMrY8jysdg
Congrats. It's sad to hear that you were disappointed at graduation. I look forward to graduating, simply for the fact that it's so far away and so uncertain at the minute. I'm sure there'll be a bit of boredom at the ceremony but a wry smile, knowing that my mother will be dying down in the crowd. I'm sure there was plenty of people going out that night to celebrate. I'm not chasing after the ceremony, but just after the right to practice medicine.
On another note, hopefully you ended up successful from Manchester because I noticed in an article from the student BMJ that Manchester was one of the lowest medical schools in terms of pass rate for pass for the application to get into the Royal College of Physicians (I think that was where anyway). PBL got slated in that article. You're rid of them now, no more being shunted from place to place (something in Northern Ireland I'll be well used to come clinical years).
Congratulations on escaping. It's a shame that you feel like this about graduation - after all it is supposed to be your special day. But I can't say that I am the least bit surprised knowing the University of Manchester.
This is yet another reason that I am delighted to be an ex-St. Andrews student. At least we get one decent graduation ceremony, even if it does fall right in the middle of our degree.
Best of luck for the future, and I really look forward to reading about life as an F1.
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