When did you know you were ready to graduate?

[justabeachbrat]

Ready to graduate?
The "first" time, well, I'll just say I wasn't a serious student. Beer vs. brain cells.
I'd transferred schools, really wasn't paying attention to my unit total. Please, I know that's stupid, but that was then. I guess I filled out some form to access credits needed.
I get this letter in the mail, saying, wheee, you can graduate in a semester.I actually called up the registration office, saying you have to be kidding.No, the dear lady chirps, that I was about done.I tell her, she didn't understand, all I knew was being a student, hanging with my friends. She informed me that was not the point of being therre. REALLY? And I was further told state schools were keeping an eye on "coasters"--those there forever, and were aiming to get them to move on.
That year, I was the only one in my group to graduate, one friend fell 2 credits short, another 3.
I graduated and given I really didn't have a direction, found a job adjusting credit card bills, nicely called customer service. YAWN.
4 months of that was enough to give anyone direction, motivation.
I went back to school, got a 2nd BA, did a 2 yr program in a 1 1/2 years, worked 2 jobs, took classes, did an internship and slept on Sunday afternoons. I found work in my major, and always found jobs in it: journalism.
The difference between the 1st and 2nd time, at birth my mom decided what mattered to her is having college graduates, not kids, and we -- sister, brothers -- were never asked about our future, we were told, had decisions made. She degrades anyone without a degree (this included my dad, who fled the marriage).
When it was my dime, I grew up, made my decisions and it mattered.