Berkeley Engineering commencement

Six years ago, my father was telling me that I was accepted into Berkeley for the fall. I initially thought it was an April Fools joke. Though I never even considered applying to such a prestigious school - let alone the idea of getting in - Dad figured it was worth a shot and sent a copy of my application to Berkeley just in case. He turned out to be right!

Today was the College of Engineering commencement. I actually received my B.S. in Engineering Math & Statistics last summer but was unable to graduate with the Class of 2009 on time. But none of that matters anymore. The most important thing is that I'm finally done with college. :-)

Graduation report

The ceremony itself was kind of boring as we had to sit through several speeches. The masters and PhD students then got their diplomas. There were more undergraduates than graduate students combined, but the process was much faster for us.

Things didn't go without a hitch. You see, Engineering Math & Statistics is an uncommon major and had less than 10 people. I somehow got separated from my group and didn't know where to go. The staff weren't familiar with my major and told me to follow the Nuclear Engineering students. I ended up being the very last person to walk across the stage. Awkward.

Everyone then split up for the receptions. Ours was the smallest and had no more than 15 people - and that's including family and significant others. On the other hand, there was lots of food. Before leaving campus, I stopped by the IEOR and EECS receptions to thank those who have helped me in my studies. It was nice to see my old IEOR 165 GSI and the IEOR 162 professor again.

The downer is that my faculty advisor Bonnie couldn't come. She had to stay home to take care of her husband John, who was recently involved in a serious cycling accident. I'm sure Bonnie would have loved to see me get my diploma. Here's to wishing John a full and speedy recovery!

Looking back

Like for most people, college had its ups and downs. A major highlight was hanging out with my suitemates Bryan, Danny and Tyler. Though I'm sometimes socially awkward, their company made for great memories.

The dances were another thing that made life at Berkeley so enjoyable. The best part is that many of them were free. The weekly activities in the residential halls were exciting too. I wish the "real world" had more social events like these.

But college wasn't all fun and games. The worst thing that happened was when my freshman year suitemates Cyrus and Andrew kept harassing me and stealing my things. The resident director couldn't do much due to lack of evidence. The academic workload was tough but nothing I couldn't handle. On the whole, I'm glad to have finished such an important stage in my life.

I can't relax just yet because of my classes at St. Mary's College of California. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to studying for the upcoming fixed income analysis midterm. In the meantime, feel free to check out my commencement pictures.

In other news...

1. Dad got summoned for jury duty last week and was actually selected for the trial. He was a little annoyed at first but is happy to have helped make our community a safer place. For those curious, the case was about a man accused of indecent exposure. It was somewhat complicated due to lack of witnesses, but he was ultimately convicted.

2. Getting into graduate school turned out be much harder than expected because we weren't aware of the low acceptance rates. At least that's the case for statistics programs. That said, I got a conditional admission into UC Riverside!

Though they couldn't accept me this year, the admissions committee said I could get in next fall by getting a "B" or above in two particular courses. I decided I was up for the challenge and will be enrolling soon. Assuming everything goes to plan, I'll be moving to Riverside in September. W00t!

Currently reading: Fixed Income Analysis Workbook by Frank J. Fabozzi