In my final quarter at Georgia Tech, I had yet another new roommate: Scott, a big fan of the Atlanta Braves. It was a relatively-relaxed conclusion to my undergraduate career - my courseload was manageable, and the next step of my life was clear: I would be attending grad school at UT-Austin. I completed my studies at Georgia Tech having earned 194 quarterly credit hours and an overall GPA of 3.73 (summa cum laude).
Here are my texts for Survey of American Literature, Technical Writing, Introduction to Science, Technology, and Culture, Experimental Engineering, and Interactive Computer Graphics & Computer Aided Design. During my undergraduate years, I didn't take any English classes until my final quarter - I tested out of freshman English, and Tech didn't require many credit hours in the humanities (it was mostly all-STEM, all-the-time). So, in my academic finale I finally got to stretch my brain by writing papers like "Man's Relationship with Nature in American Literature" and "Modalities in Popular Science News" (in addition to more typical fare like "Tactile Feedback Part Identification via One Degree of Freedom Telerobotic Arm").
RIP Darren Strader. He was my best friend during senior year; we shared a love of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and sarcasm. He arranged a volunteer usher gig for us at the Fox Theatre on the night Spinal Tap played there on their Break Like The Wind tour. He was part of a group (me not included) that executed a storied campus prank: stealing the T off the Tech Tower.
In Summer '92 he became editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper (The Technique) - I remember him crashing weekly on a TV lounge couch after pulling an all-nighter putting out the paper. He would bitch to me about the latest campus administration outrages; his skeptical and uncompromising vibe (characteristic of student journalism) appealed to me, and helped push me toward the career I have today.
I lost touch with him after graduation; a few years later I saw in the alumni magazine that he had passed away at the far-too-young age of 34. Details on his death were scarce, and maybe I don't want to know what happened.
Here I am getting my Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering diploma from Georgia Tech President Pat Crecine. I'm not sure what to make of the knowing look I'm evincing; maybe "Heh, Darren told me stories about you."
I exited my undergraduate years debt-free. To be sure, I was fortunate to attend college when tuition was much lower: I averaged $2,000 in tuition/fees (and $500 in housing expense) per quarter over my twelve academic quarters, so $30k total (excluding food, textbooks, and incidentals). On the income side, I contributed $4k from my National Merit Finalist scholarship, along with after-tax earnings of $34k: seven co-op work quarters at American Cyanamid netted $30k, and my teaching assistant gig and the summer at Kwik Kopy netted $2k apiece.