Bring on the student loan repayments!

14th June 2009

Bring on the student loan repayments!

posted in Body Image, Feminist Topics, Personal |

Thanks for the graduation cap suggestions, everyone. I finally conceded that mortarboards just don’t look flattering on anyone and shoved it into place, hair be damned. Actually, considering our Hogwarts-like regalia, I thought wizard/witch hats to be more appropriate headwear. Here I am in front of McMicken Hall, where I have spent the better part of my academic career for the past seven years. UC has lots of different architecture types ranging from historic to ultra-modern to downright ugly, but I think McMicken is the most beautiful building on campus and am glad to have called it my academic home. See other pics of me with the hubby and the moms here.

McMicken Hall, University of Cincinnati

This is the first year the university has held a separate commencement ceremony for only PhD and master’s degree students. They usually hold an all-college commencement ceremony on Saturday, which includes all degree-seeking students in two ceremonies divided by colleges. Until I found out in March about the separate ceremony for grad students, I assumed we would be included in the larger ceremony as usual. It’s an incredibly long (about four hours) and insanely boring ceremony and for these reasons alone I wasn’t planning on attending. Then I found out who they scheduled as the guest speaker and that clinched it.

UC features guest speakers with ties to the university who have gone on to achieve notable success. At my first graduation (in which I was also the commencement speaker), it was CCM graduate Kevin McCollum, the Tony award-winning producer of Rent; my second, former NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, also the university’s first black basketball player. This year the university chose Paul Polman, a UC College of Business grad and current CEO of Unilever. Yes, the same Unilever corporate conglomerate of which I’ve written about its brands of misogynistic Axe body spray ads; whitening creams that promise to make ethnic women in developing nations “whiter”‘ Slim-Fast, which plays on the insecurities of Western women; and the feel-good, but hypocritical Dove “Real Beauty” ads for cellulite creams. The bulk of my graduate research is devoted to the study of oppressive beauty standards for women and how they act as forms of social control and this is the honorary face they selected to inspire graduates? Oh, the irony!

In any case, we grad students had our brief ceremony with only our venerable faculty speaking and the undergraduates had their tediously long one with Polman. I am now officially done and already missing it, but not enough to start in on a PhD program… yet.

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1 On June 14th, 2009, D said:

Wow, congrats Rachel! Hopefully I will be in the same place two years from now when I am finished with my M.S.W. degree. Best of luck to you…

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 3:15 pm

2 On June 14th, 2009, Charlotte said:

Congrats Rachel! In about two years, I’ll be rocking one of those awesome master’s hoods too! (Mine will be red) Hopefully one of these days, we’ll get to call you Dr. Rachel!

Oh, and it is really ironic that Polman is speaking at the undergraduate commencement. I wouldn’t have wanted to go to a ceremony where the speaker stood for everything I was trying to refute via my course of study.

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

3 On June 14th, 2009, O.C. said:

If you get a Ph.D. you get to wear the Floppy Hat, and the Floppy Hat looks good on EVERYONE!

Congratulations!

(And don’t go after a Ph.D. just to wear the Floppy Hat. I made that mistake and don’t recommend it.)

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 4:10 pm

4 On June 14th, 2009, Rachel said:

@Charlotte and OC: If I do go for the PhD at UC, I’ll get a bright red robe with black velvet stripes. My master’s hood is white, with black and red adornment. I was so happy to get this particular hood because it color coordinates with UC’s colors. Other colleges got dark brown, drab green and even Pepto Bismal pink hoods that were all really ugly. I joked that I would evaluate PhD programs on the basis of what color robes it conferred.

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

5 On June 14th, 2009, sarah said:

Congrats, Rachel!!

6 On June 14th, 2009, Rachel said:

Oh, and as for the PhD program, I’d LOVE to get it, but I don’t know how I would swing it while also working full-time. It was difficult enough juggling the master’s program with a professional career. I would need to go to school full-time to get any kind of scholarship as well, since I refuse to accumulate any more student loan debt. As it is, we’ll be paying the existing debt for the next 20 years at least. One of my backup plans should I be laid off, which is a distinct possibility considering my field, is to then enter a PhD program. If not, it would be quite some time before I would pursue it.

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

7 On June 14th, 2009, SteveD said:

Congrats. Lots of Hard Work. I think it took about 5 years to payoff Wife’s Student Loans. What a pain. Watch out for the Age problem later on. She has found out that in mid 50’s they don’t want MSW’s that old. Shame. But She’s happy and that is what counts in life!

SFD

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 6:16 pm

8 On June 14th, 2009, bri said:

Many and much congratulations Rachel! Hopefully it will be me posting a similar pic next April when I graduate from my Masters in Counselling!

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

9 On June 14th, 2009, Stephanie said:

Congrats! That’s a really, really pretty building.

I’m rather glad that I got out of music because that would be the field with the Pepto-Bismol pink robes. Ugh. I’m pretty sure that I get to wear a black robe when I graduate from law school (in, uh, three years — I start in the fall).

And I’m certain that your loans don’t begin to come anywhere near what, say, a friend of my cousin’s has: $250K, between undergrad and law school. She’ll be paying $2000/month for the rest of her life, pretty much. Ugh.

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

10 On June 14th, 2009, living400lbs said:

Congratulations! Just think – if you’d gone to Oxford you’d have to wear gowns all through

posted on June 14th, 2009 at 11:24 pm

11 On June 15th, 2009, Rachel_in_WY said:

Ah, the luxurious feeling of waking up the day after graduation and realizing you don’t have to do anything academic – all day. Enjoy!

But I must warn you, in a few months you may find yourself surreptitiously looking up PhD programs… grad work can be a bit addictive.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 10:47 am

12 On June 15th, 2009, sarah-j said:

congratulations rachel!! hope you had a brilliant day. i’m graduating from my undergrad degree in about two weeks and i’m so excited. i’m thinking of doing a masters from september. darn college and it’s addictive qualities!

enjoy freedom!

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 11:35 am

13 On June 15th, 2009, Rachel said:

@Rachel: I’m already bored and looking up PhD programs! It’s so weird because I can’t seem to relax. I constantly feel like there’s something I should be doing, some paper I need to be writing, some book I should be reading. I tell myself that it’s all over, but I can’t seem to shake that feeling.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 11:37 am

14 On June 15th, 2009, SteveD said:

Rachel;

It sounds like Vacation Time. Go see some beach in Hawaii or such. Fishing, Boating or whatever.

Make worrying about Sunburn the biggest problem.

Go ride some Steam Train (what we are doing this Summer).

http://www.nps.gov/stea/

Even if you can’t get away for long take a weekend off. Plant a Garden, Dust off the Bike, but it’s time to forget about School for a little bit!

SFD

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

15 On June 15th, 2009, spoonfork38 said:

Congratulations!

Go decompress a little. Acadamia will still be here when you get back—all that ivy keeps it from escaping . . .

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

16 On June 15th, 2009, Rachel said:

@Steve: We’re making vacations plans for our anniversary at the end of July. Unfortunately we don’t have the money for an Hawaiian vacation, but we are exploring some nice hiking locales closer to home.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

17 On June 15th, 2009, SteveD said:

Great. You really need it after all that HARD Work. I just go done with 12 days of Habitat Blitz Build. It’s hard on the feet wearing normal shoes after going Berkenstock and ZCoil for so many years.

Pics on my Web Site (I am the Official/UnOfficial Photograpehr) Can we say Volunteer.

I think they tried to feed us to death with Great Food.

Hopefully you can find the Right Job that pays for your Skills and Education. Good luck in that aspect.

SteveD

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 1:28 pm

18 On June 15th, 2009, Rachel said:

Hopefully you can find the Right Job that pays for your Skills and Education. Good luck in that aspect.

Actually, graduate school is just a hobby, a very expensive hobby. I’ve been employed professionally and full-time throughout grad school and have no plans on changing career course (journalism) anytime soon. I got the graduate degree because it was a challenge, I’m an academic snob and it will help me be more accepted as an expert when I finally write the book I’ve always wanted to write. I did apply to be an adjunct prof at a local college this fall, but I just want to do it on the side and to make history fun for freshman, not because I want to teach for a living. Thanks for the well wishes, though!

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 1:52 pm

19 On June 15th, 2009, Jessica said:

Ah, good old McMicken! I spent the better part of 2 years there myself (our office and classrooms were on the second floor). I feel you on the unable to relax thing, too. I keep thinking there must be something looming…

I actually skipped commencement, and now, knowing who the speaker was, I’m kind of glad of that.

It may sound cheesy, but the Smokies are decent for a vacation. It’s doable distance-wise (4 hours or so) and cheap; my partner and I went last month and got a nice 2-person cabin for about $100 a night. With hot tub and gorgeous mountain views.

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

20 On June 15th, 2009, Rachel said:

@Jessica: I think we’re planning on a couple days at the Shaker Village in Harrodsburg, Ky., followed by a couple days at Mammoth Caves and then a one-day jaunt down to Nashville because there’s a pizza place there the hubby is in total love with. Last year we rented a cabin in Hocking Hills that was at the top of a mountain, secluded, with a hot tub — there was no reason to ever leave!

posted on June 15th, 2009 at 2:08 pm

21 On June 16th, 2009, MrsDrC said: