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Well, this is my last post for Marginalia, so I’m sending you with this giant selfie. It’s a strangely sentimental selfie because I took one very similar my first day of the program a year and a half ago. I remember exactly how I felt then—excited, nervous, hopeful.This time, I still felt those things, but I also felt a sense of accomplishment, gratitude and pride. That’s why I share this picture. It’s not just a dumb selfie. To me, it represents how I felt after finishing the Journalism MA program.

If you’ve been following along, you know I graduated last month, and now I live in Minnesota and work at Minnesota Public Radio. Life is crazy. Thank you for reading, tweeting and sending emails. I hope I’ve been able to answer some of your questions about what it’s like to be in this program.

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Ever since I got accepted into the Journalism MA program, my life has been a whirlwind—in a good way.

I’ve had countless opportunities, met amazing people and grown in ways I probably still don’t even realize.

If you’re still on the fence about getting a Journalism MA at Columbia, I hope you decide to. Journalism is changing so quickly that it can hardly keep up with itself, but Columbia knows that, and somehow it keeps up. You won’t find a more hands on journalism program anywhere. The faculty at Columbia acknowledge all these crazy changes happening in the field, but they also stay grounded in the fundamentals: good, solid reporting skills, telling a story well and doing it all ethically.

And out of all the things I’ve said about the program, that is the most important thing.