# Are you skipping your graduation ceremony?



## GraceLikeRain

Who is graduating in May? Are you attending your graduation ceremony?

I keep going back and forth on this issue. I actually have to ask for permission to skip it (funny, considering _I_ am paying to be here, they are not paying me), but I really do not want to go. I am not so sure that I am able to handle everything that is involved. However, if I don't go my professors are going to be uspet with me (which might influence what they say in my letters of rec for grad school), my parents are going to be upset with me.... :sigh :afr :hide

Anyone else skipping theirs despite pressures from family members and teachers/professors?


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## sushiwithfish

i think you should go. it'll be an experience that you'll never forget. if you're nervous, just remember most people are looking for their kid and not paying attention to anything else.


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## Zephyr

Mine was last June. I didn't go, though my parents wanted me to.

It would have been awkward.


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## kikachuck

I think you should just go. Yeah, it will be anxiety producing, but that sort of thing means a lot to some people and I don't think you really want to dissapoint people. To me, the fear of dissapointing people is always worse than the anxiety caused by whatever it is I skip.


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## Strength

I went to mine even though I didn't want to go. Looking back, I'm glad I went, because my parents wanted me to go and it was a good moment for them to feel proud of me. Actually, I don't really think I had much of a choice in the matter.


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## emptybottle

I think you should go too, especially if it'll make your parents happy.

That being said, my parents were angry at me for days for not attending my high school graduation, and kept bringing up how my grandma was so disappointed and really wanted to attend one of her grandkids' graduation before she died (She died later that year). So yeah, I regret not going.... I don't plan on attending my graduation from community college this spring, because it's completely meaningless. But I'll definitely attend my graduation from university, just to thank my parents for, you know, paying for it.


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## GraceLikeRain

The only thing that is going to push me to go it is if I tell my CSD professors that I do not want to go and they lecture me about how important it is. 

Highly structure events cause me so much anxiety. I would rather go to a party than to something like a graduation ceremony. I also feel like they turn into a popularity contest. I wonder who is going to clap for me when I walk across that stage. My parents, my sister, possibly my professors and some of my classmates...and then there are those who have huge fan clubs in the crowd.

I am just waiting for May 20th to be over because then for better or worse it will be over. Deciding whether or not to go should not be a stressful decision, but for me it is


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## Inturmal

I wouldn't go. There's no need to take part in the ceremony. Especially if it's gonna be torture.


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## winduptoy

I didn't go to the high school one and I don't look forward to the college one either (whenever that will be). It seems so stressful and embarrassing. . .

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, GraceLikeRain.


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## smalltowngirl

I might skip mine. I have no idea when it is or anything. I'm so focused on making sure that I do graduate in May that I don't have time to worry about the ceremony. I want to go, but it's too much of a bother to figure out what I need to do to go.


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## SilentLoner

I went to mine. Defenitely worth it, even thought it was kinda embarassing that I had to walk a few blocks in my graduation robes (lack of parking).


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## copper

I went to mine. Mine was held in the Convention center in downtown Des Moines. There was thousands of people there. I was kind of nervous, but everyone else was. It wasn't too bad though. I never died. Just mostly sit there listening to different speakers. Then they called your name to go up to the stage to get the diploma holder. They mailed the diploma, because the finals were not graded yet.


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## Amelia

Be sure not to miss your graduation ceremony, Grace. You might be anxious now, but you won't regret it. It's a once in a lifetime experience and a celebration of all your hard work and achievements. 



GraceLikeRain said:


> I also feel like they turn into a popularity contest. I wonder who is going to clap for me when I walk across that stage. My parents, my sister, possibly my professors and some of my classmates...and then there are those who have huge fan clubs in the crowd.


At mine, there was absolutely no difference that I can remember in the audience response to individual students. (No resounding silence when I walked on the stage! Phew!) There was such a big audience, and such a positive atmosphere (proud parents, grandparents, siblings everywhere) that everyone got a good round of applause when they went up to get their certificate. The audience was rooting for everyone. :yes

It was over *very* quickly. I remember standing in a queue waiting to go onto the podium and it was basically a matter of going on one after the other. You just shook hands with a couple of guys, got the certificate and went off the stage. It went so fast that the audience had hardly any time to stop applauding.

So it's unlikely to be as a big a deal as you imagine. At my graduation ceremony, you didn't even have to face the audience much: you were either side-on to the audience (as you walked up and walked off), or had your back to them (as you got the certificate).


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## bent

i missed all of mine except for one that was mandatory. i have no regrets personally. but i can see how some people would enjoy it. i just felt too bad and too much like a fraudster to go if i could avoid it since i always graduate badly.


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## GraceLikeRain

I bought my cap and gown today so I am guess I am going. *shivers* I'm doing it for my parents. It's a good thing that I am so overwhelmed with school work that I do not have time to worry about how many things could go wrong that day.


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## turbonium

I'm really glad you are leaning toward going to the ceremony. I had to go to my high school ceremony b/c I was giving a speech, and the days leading up to it were some of the most difficult of my life. I thought about every possible way it could go wrong. The walk to the venue was hell, but when I got there and saw how happy my family was, it kinda hit me. The ceremony isn't really so much for you as it is for everyone who helped you get there, and thinking about all the ways in which they helped me made me feel a lot better. It was still a tough ceremony, but when I look back on it I remember how much I didn't wanna go and then how I got through it and how happy it made those close to me.

On the other hand, I know exactly what you mean about the structured events. At a party, you can just leave without anyone really noticing. (If they are drunk enough, you can probably get sick without anyone noticing lol.) When it's structured, it feels like any false move is gonna be magnified. I had a few SA related moments on stage that night, but it turned out that no one even cared, they were all caught up in the joy of the moment. So I guess I rambled a bit, but I bet you'll look back on this in a while and be really happy you did it. I know its tough to really see that beforehand when the SA is really kicking in though.


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## Softy785

My college graduation is tomorrow. I'm dreading it, and if it were completely up to me, I wouldn't go. But I have a lot of people coming to my graduation to support me, so I'm doing it for them. I'd hate to let my family and friends down like that. My biggest concern is that they let the graduates sit by whoever they want within their major. I have noone to sit by, so it could get really awkward.


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## ghostgurl

I'm likely going to be graduating fall of this year, so there may not be any graduation ceremony for me to go to.


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## zarathustra55

I'm going....my parents would be very, very disappointed in me if I didn't. I would never hear an end to my mom's nagging if I didn't go, so I'm choosing the lesser evil. They line us up alphabetically, so it shouldn't be too bad.


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## GraceLikeRain

Softy785 said:


> My college graduation is tomorrow. I'm dreading it, and if it were completely up to me, I wouldn't go. But I have a lot of people coming to my graduation to support me, so I'm doing it for them. I'd hate to let my family and friends down like that. My biggest concern is that they let the graduates sit by whoever they want within their major. I have noone to sit by, so it could get really awkward.


I hope that it went well!


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## Lobster Magnet

My graduation is on the 18th and I'm a little nervous about. Just got my cap and gown today! Like others, I bailed on my high school graduation and my parents were somewhat pissed. But for college, I am actually surprised that I'm graduating and proud of myself (for once!)... so I'm willing to go through with it. 

Softy, I'm worried about the seating thing too. It'll probably be me, sitting in between two groups of friends chatting and laughing, trying not to die. Hope your ceremony went well, tell us that it wasnt too horrifying.


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