Last year I earned my masters and I guess I thought that the day I turned my dissertation in would be the day everything changed. Except a funny thing happened. I got the results of my degree (I’d passed with distinction). And then I went to work. I answered phones and made photocopies and banged my head against the wall like I always had. And suddenly six months had passed. I was still working part-time as an administrative assistant. My novel hadn’t been published. My novel hadn’t even been finished. I wasn’t an award-winning journalist at a major national newspaper or a highly paid travel writer or a famous blogger. Turns out my degree was not a magic wand. I KNOW. THEY SHOULD REALLY WARN YOU ABOUT THAT SHIT.

It’s not all bad. I have a real adult job now. I write regularly. But I just have this feeling that I’m not the only person in the world to get a masters (or an undergraduate degree, or even a PhD) and then suddenly look around and realize that this was not exactly what I expected.

So yeah. That’s what this is. Check out the first post if you want something a bit more in-depth.

Also! Are you surprised to find yourself flipping burgers in spite of graduating Summa Cum Laude from Ivy League College #1 with a double major in women’s studies and astrophysics? Ever look around and realize that in spite of your masters in classics you’re still a slave to the photocopier? Submit your “thing(s) I didn’t expect to be doing after I got my masters/whatever” to [email address to be supplied].