PhD Graduation at University of Tsukuba (March 2025)

My PhD graduation will most likely be the final milestone in my formal academic journey. A doctoral degree is the highest level of education one can pursue academically, and on March 25, 2025, I was officially declared a PhD graduate from University of Tsukuba. After years of investing time, energy, and mental effort, all of it was finally rewarded — symbolized by a single diploma.

”Just Okay” Compared to My Undergraduate Graduation at ITB

Compared to my previous graduation experiences, especially my undergraduate graduation at ITB, this one felt rather ordinary. Post-pandemic graduation ceremonies at University of Tsukuba haven’t changed much over the years — the main difference was a noticeably livelier campus, thanks to graduates’ families being able to attend, something that wasn’t possible during the pandemic.

This lines up with what I mentioned on the Master’s Graduation (2022) page: graduation ceremonies in Japan are generally far less extravagant than in Indonesia, especially compared to ITB.

A Simple Ceremony

The ceremony itself was simple. Graduates from the same department were gathered in one room and called forward one by one to receive their diplomas. Once everyone had theirs, the ceremony was over.

From my personal experience, both my Master’s and PhD graduations at University of Tsukuba felt “just okay” — likely because of the emotional contrast with my undergraduate graduation at ITB. That gap made graduations in Japan feel emotionally flatter, even though their significance remained substantial.

Why Not a Postdoc?

After finishing my PhD, I’m entering the phase most people eventually go through: working at a company. I’d actually applied to the company I currently work for about a year before graduating — I’ll write about that job-hunting process on a separate page.

As for why I didn’t go straight into a postdoc: the answer is simple — I wanted a break from research. Between my Master’s and PhD, research consumed a huge amount of my energy and mental capacity. At this stage, I felt I needed room to explore things beyond research, learn in different fields, and broaden my perspective.

With this, I’m closing the chapter on my academic journey — specifically the Master’s and PhD years — for now. There’s a chance I’ll add stories from my undergraduate days later, though that’ll take some memory-digging. For now, I’m moving on to the next phase of my life: the professional world.