oh, the places you'll go...

In the spirit of graduation, and in revisiting a book by Dr. Seuss, seeing it through my daughter's eyes, I want to share a story with you.

Many of you have probably heard some, if not all, of this story at a graduation event. It was more likely your high school graduation, or the high school graduation of a sibling, but a few years back it became popular to read excerpts from Dr. Seuss' Oh, the Places You'll Go! in lieu of a graduation speech. It really is a great story that my daughter requests fairly often as her bedtime story of choice. Having now read it many times, I am amazed each time at how the story reminds me of the trials and tribulations of graduate school. 

Here's my "interpretation" of the story as the story of graduate school:

In the beginning, you're just getting started. Possibilities are limitless. You're ahead of many of your classmates -- you're going to grad school! 

But then...you're still in grad school. They've gotten jobs, gotten married, bought houses, had children. They've passed you by...now you're "in a Slump."

And when you're in a Slump
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.***

You'll end up in the "waiting place" where people are just waiting. It may be waiting for the universe to provide you with some direction. Is grad school really for you? What are you going to do when you're done? When will my adviser get my reviewed chapters back to me? Just...waiting. 

But you'll get out of the waiting place and make progress. You'll finish your coursework. Present your research. Finish your comps. And then comes writing your dissertation...

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.
...
There are some [things], down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much that you wont want to go on.

But on you will go...

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

You'll keep right on working, you'll get through your Slump. You'll get your chapters written, get your committee in a room, and YOU'LL DEFEND YOUR THESIS!

You'll graduate! You'll walk with all the rest of the students with your family proudly cheering you on, all of you relieved that you've finally graduated! At one college graduation, one mom expressed what every graduate student (and their families) was thinking, "Thank you, Lord!"

Even if you're not graduating this semester, it might be worth attending commencement. Envision yourself walking across the stage, shaking hands with the Dean of your college, being hooded by your major professor, moving on to the next great thing in your life. Singing (or at least humming along to) the U of A Alma Mater. 

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain (dissertation) is waiting
So...get on your way! 
  
Do yourself a favor and buy a copy and read the whole thing yourself. Even better, buy it as a future graduation gift for yourself. You deserve it. I'll see some of you at graduation in a few weeks. 

- Dawn

***Editor's Note: All italicized text (with a few liberties taken by the blog author)  represents quotes of passages from:
Geisel, T.S. 1990. Oh, the Places You'll Go! Random House, Inc.: New York, New York.