As many of you may know or not know or simple don’t care, I’m one of those fools, who believes he can improve himself, by depriving himself of the few free hours one has after work, and use them to obtain an additional degree. In my case, a Master in Commercial Sciences.

Why ? Well, there are a zillion reasons, but most all : I’m still pissed (at myself) for never finishing my Master in Computer Science 10 years ago. So, since obtaining a Master in Computer Science is quite stupid nowadays, because I have already a Bachelor in Computer Science and almost 6 years of working experience, I thought it was better to get a degree in an area everyone needs : Money.

(Please insert some really career-related reasons)

Last Thursday, me and my fellow students were invited by the teaching staff for a gruesome 3 hours lasting proclamation to conclude our second year of Commercial Sciences. I was not very inclined to waste 3 hours just to get my results, so I simply didn’t go (had a very urgent appoint with the barber) and called the headmaster the next day to get my results. Ok, I passed, no news there (ahum), but no one could tell me my exact degree. Did I simple pass, or did I pass with Cum Laude or even Major Cum Laude …. Who will tell ?

Well, the headmaster told me an envelope would tell my degree, since they were no longer allowed to give the exact results by phone or in person ?????

Finally, after one agonizing week of waiting, I finally received an envelope in the mailbox and impatiently tore it open to envisage my well-earned degree. My eyes scanned to document and found …. NOTHING. No degree, nothing, da nada, rien, noppes. And slowly a panic got hold of my heart, when I started to realized the impossible must happened … I just passed … no degree, no better than the rest, just passed.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO …..

So, got me a calculator, started counting and found my percentage was a mere 74%. Not really fantastic, since I lost some percentages on the final exam of the year, thus losing my chance at a Major Cum Laude, but nevertheless high enough to obtain a Cum Laude degree, but to the paper simply refused to reveal a degree.

Total disillusioned, I looked up the school charter and discovered that to obtain a degree one must :

a) Obtain more than 68% percent.
b) Do not flunk for a course
c) Must have followed a curriculum with more than 27 credits.

So, back to the drawing board, I mean, paper, and discovered my curriculum only consisted of 27 credits, because we were given the opportunity to be exempted from courses, by obtaining 75% on tests at the beginning of the year. And due to those exemptions, my curriculum diminished to 27 credits instead of 31 …

The road to success is closed down … due to small print.