Huge thank you to everyone who sent me a graduation card for my PhD...I passed my defense, so I'm officially a doctor! It hasn't sunk in yet but I read your cards over time as I finished writing my dissertation and prepared my defense presentation. It was so helpful to have these cards to cheer me on as I was getting burned out!

u/optimalmotto thank you for all your kind words! It was a helpful reminder that getting this far is only the start and that this degree will allow me to do all the cool stuff I'm interested in.

u/adoreible95 thank you for the card - I loved the stickers (and your handwriting)!

u/neona65 thank you for the card with the embroidery - so beautiful!

u/thecaledonianrose thank you for the graduation card, the defense went better than I had thought it would and now it's finally done!

u/spaaaaaaccy this pop out card was awesome, I was not expecting that - thank you!!

u/ninajyang thank you so much for the congratulations!!

u/tiredpantyhose thank you for the graduation card, I was not expecting it to be in German but it was a fun surprise!

u/ribeyecut I loved the tiger graduation card and the story about the guy in the cafe who finally felt like a man after his PhD! I would not have thought those two things would be connected, but it does feel good to be done.

u/FollowingTheBeat thank you for the beach postcard - and I have so much 'life stuff' to catch up on but it's definitely rewarding to do so now that I have time again

u/chibi_haiku thank you for the cute owl postcard with all the pretty floral stickers!

u/smileyfangs thank you for the congratulations card, and good luck with your thesis! I guess my main grad school tip as it relates to conferences is to try to add some time to the beginning or end to see the city - it can be hard to find time for a real vacation during grad school, so take advantage of conference travel

u/stephkempf thank you for the congratulatory card!

u/travel4me22 the chicken card was hilarious, thank you so much!

u/rosesareBLUEtoo thank you so much for the graduation card!

u/TigerLady13 thank you for the graduation card with the frogs, stickers, and washi tape - it was so fun!