As I was walking out of the campus bookstore this afternoon the display of diplomas caught my eye. Of course, it wasn’t the piece of paper inside that caught my eye (however expensive the education it represents), but the matting. Go figure. But it was a pretty cherry red!
I was reminded that I wanted to ask what you guys do with your diplomas. If you have a professional degree, I think people are used to seeing it on your office or study wall–we want to make sure you are well trained before you poke and prod! I don’t think anybody wants or expects to see any degree validation from me, though. So where do the diplomas go? I’m worried I’m being derelict. Where do yours end up?
Erin
Alan Schmierer
I ended up framing mine just so they wouldn’t get bent. At the moment, they’re hanging up in my “home office” here. Eventually, when I’m a professor & have a semi-permanent office from which to conduct my work, I’ll hang them there.
-L
As I walked out the bookstore I thought, “Lisa’s probably got the right idea: preserve them, and figure out where to hang them later!” When I was thinking about my professors’ offices, though, I remembered a) they don’t have any wall space not taken up with books and b) not a diploma to be seen. Maybe they’re all at home?
Erin
I’m pretty sure some of my profs have them up. I’ll keep an eye out now. 🙂
Excellent idea from Lisa – to preserve them and insure they are not lost or discarded, frame them…goodness knows you paid enough for it:) Very likely, those profs who do not have theirs on display probably have them hanging in their home offices. Or maybe they have moved around so much that’s just one of the things they have not unpacked, or the office may be temporary, etc.
Frame it!
But in our house that would mean four large frames (and the ones from undergrad are really excessively large). That’s a lot of money for something that will just have to be wrapped carefully when we move–and they would take the room of what could be pretty pictures!
I’ve also been in the homes of some of my profs, and I don’t remember seeing diplomas in any of their main rooms. Unless they have a small education shrine in the attic, I’m still not seeing it.
Erin
I didn’t want to pay to have the official frame for mine. My mom just got a generic frame from Michaels. I think my parents are going to give me nice frames for my diplomas as a graduation present so that I can hang them in my office, in case I eventually get a job one of these years.
I’m a bit jealous that you + Sydney could form a very symmetrical diploma collection. My BU one is annoyingly larger than the Yale one (and of course, different color matting). On the plus side, it seems that every university bookstore carries the same frames, so I bought the same style for both. Yes, this is my OCD side coming out. 🙂
-L
Hehe, yeah, I’m with you on the OCD thing. But having seen several photographs and paintings recently that I would LOVE to have on my wall, I’m not terribly keen on giving that space up to diplomas (which, as my mother pointed out, I can’t even read). If I want text on my wall, it’ll be poetry or pieces of music or something.
Erin