[attention whoring] Antonio V, M.A.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I graduated yesterday!

After 5 years at Sciences Po, I attended the official graduation ceremony, received my Master's Degree (Cum Laude), and said goodbye to my university and my friends.

The ceremony wasn't nearly as epic what you get in the US (we didn't even get graduation gowns! ), but it was pretty nice. We had a few good speeches, and we all got to be filmed on stage for a couple seconds. My parents were there, obviously, and after the ceremony I got to hang out with my friends from the Polisci program. Pretty great afternoon and night all around!

[Antonio the Sixth]

Congratulations!

What are your plans now?

I've already been admitted to UCLA for a PhD, will be moving to LA in early September.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thank you so much guys!

Picture time!

[Antonio the Sixth]

Congratulations, Master Antonio V! (Just to clarify...while that is your official title now...don't ever use it unless you're into BDSM)

LOL It is a pretty odd title, for sure.

Now get a job, dude ...

Not for another 5-7 years.

Congraduations, Tony! Did you knock out your degree in only a year, then? And did you have a specific concentration?

You can't do that in France: it's two years for everybody, no more, no less.

And yup, my concentration is in "Comparative Political Sociology". Which is nice, because it creates a pretty small student community (we were 12-15 this year) and allowed me to forge strong friendships. By contrast, I know almost nobody from the other subsections.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Congraduations, Tony! Did you knock out your degree in only a year, then? And did you have a specific concentration?

You can't do that in France: it's two years for everybody, no more, no less.

And yup, my concentration is in "Comparative Political Sociology". Which is nice, because it creates a pretty small student community (we were 12-15 this year) and allowed me to forge strong friendships. By contrast, I know almost nobody from the other subsections.

Well you said "after 5 years", so I assumed you did 4 in undergrad and then 1 in grad school. Comparative Political Sociology sounds cool. I'm trying to wade through "The Social Origins of Democracy and Dictatorship" right now, which, according to Wikipedia, is filed under that or a similar "area" of study. Comparative Politics is one of the subjects I'm considering getting a masters in, if I ever graduate.

It's really cool to see you're interested in my field! From reading some of your posts, I got the impression that you didn't have a very high opinion of the more theory-oriented academic disciplines. But yeah, Comparative Politics is pretty fascinating, and I really learned a lot at Sciences Po. At UCLA I will have Comparative Politics as my major field and American Politics as a secondary one. The goal to study electoral patterns and party competition in Western democracies, US included.

Undergraduate education is 3 years in France (in all of Europe, actually - as usual it's just you American weirdos doing things differently ), so that's why it only adds up to 5 years.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Now get a job, dude ...

Not for another 5-7 years.

Typical socialist European welfare queen

And I'll be mooching off American money! Good thing US universities are so generous with their doctoral students.

Congratulations! My MA graduation was an odd thing as well, but that was entirely because I am a deeply strange person.

In what way? I'm curious.

[Antonio the Sixth]

And today, I got my visa back as well! Almost ready to go...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Your friend was still luckier than I was. I didn't even get my actual diploma, just a commemorative piece of paper with the names of the graduates on it. Apparently Sciences Po doesn't even issue paper diplomas anymore, just digital ones. And even then, I won't get it until October or something.

That makes me sick.

[Antonio the Sixth]

If it's digital why does it take three months?

I have no clue. Apparently it uses some kind of complex online verification system to guarantee authenticity, so maybe it might take some time to enable it. Or alternatively, it might just be because the Sciences Po administration is completely useless.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Five years ago today, I graduated from High School. It's strange, it both feels like it was yesterday and like it was a century ago, I can't sort it out. Everything has changed so much since those days.