Officially Class Free!

As of 12:30PM this afternoon, I have finished all of the course requirements for my graduate program! This is of course assuming I pass the class whose final I took this morning, but I'm not very worried about that.

Yes, I am a fourth year graduate student who is just now finishing classes; but for my department, this is a normal amount of time. Luckily, they just decreased our required course load by 4 classes, so instead of taking classes again next semester, I can completely focus on my research. What a relief! I am not opposed to classes, but I have lost so much time in the last 3.5 years because of classes that I can't wait to catch up on all of the different research pursuits I've been working on. I plan to still sit in on some classes and take a few interesting seminars, but now I can choose solely based on what is useful to me, and therefore concentrate on learning what I need to know instead of worrying about a grade.

It's an amazing feeling to be done. Sure, I have a year or two left in the program (our median is almost 7 years), but I finally don't have to take classes! Amazing! It's similar to the feeling I had after taking my last final in undergrad, where this immense burden is just gone. An important goal has been accomplished! I feel as if I have plenty of time to accomplish anything I want. Hopefully that will last at least a few days.