the school I never attended

The last of my grades was posted this morning. I did about as expected, so I'm satisfied. By the time you get to the graduate level, no one seems to care about your GPA, so as long as my grades have been good enough to get tuition reimbursement from my employer, I've been happy. Mostly. Regardless, I'm one step closer to having full closure. Now all I need is my diploma in hand, and I will feel completely free of grad school.

The little lady and I went to the university bookstore last Saturday so that I could sell some books back. We each bought a University of Minnesota sweatshirt as well. I figured that now that I'm a graduate of the university, I might as well own at least something that shows a little school pride.

For me, school pride is kind of like patriotism--a sentiment that has always troubled me. In my mind, patriotism often brings out the very worst in people, and it blinds them to negative truths about their home/city/state/country. It's for this reason that Independence Day is probably my least favorite holiday. Actually, it's tied with Halloween.

Anyway, back to school pride. When I attended Claremont High School, I never had any clothing or other paraphernalia with CHS or wolfpack (our mascot) logos until right at the very end, when "class of 1994" sweatshirts were being sold. That was the last sweatshirt I owned until I bought my U of M sweatshirt on Saturday, and it was only worn a couple times--a pointless purchase, to be sure. I probably just got caught up in the moment. That wouldn't be the first time that "the moment" has gotten the best of me.

As a BYU student, I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing anything with a BYU logo on it. Even as a graduate of BYU, I still wouldn't be caught dead with anything with a BYU logo on it. Honestly, I never really wanted to go to BYU (maybe I'll explain why in another post), and the fact that I don't like the school colors is the cherry on top of my I-don't-like-BYU sundae.

I have my U of M sweatshirt, but it's not like I have school pride--not in the traditional sense, anyway. In many ways, it feels like I was never even there. I was a part-time student, and never had any day classes. All of my classes were in the business school building, save one class I took last summer, and that building was adjacent to the business school. BYU's campus is very compact, and when I was there, I never felt like I was too far from the action. The U of M campus, however, is very spread out and is divided by the Mississippi River. The business school is on the west side of the river, I only went to the east side of the river to sell back books. When I did, I always got the impression that the east side was where all the action and most of the students were. Also, I'm not a sports fan and never attended any U of M sporting events. All of these things contribute to my feeling that I was more a Carlson School of Management student than I was a University of Minnesota student.

My sweatshirt, which is black and says "Minnesota" (no "university" or "golden gophers" or anything like that--too obvious) in the school's maroon and gold colors, is probably the only piece of U of M memorabilia I'll ever own. My diploma will probably end up in a drawer, just like my high school and BYU diplomas. It's nice to have the accomplishments, but ultimately they were means to an end. I loved my undergraduate major (Chinese language), but I really just needed to graduate so I could get a job. I like business, but I really just needed my MBA so I could get even better jobs. If money didn't matter at all, I would have studied something else. More Chinese? Latin, ancient Greek or another language of interest? Astronomy? Music performance? Classical literature? The history of the Roman Empire? There are so many things I could have studied that would have been more interesting to me than business, but that wouldn't have allowed me to get a very good job. I sometimes joke that I'm a corporate whore, but the truth of this joke is never clearer than when I think of the alternative paths my life might have taken.