17 GIFs That Express Your Graduation Day Feelings

Congratulations, today is the day you graduate from student to real-world adult. It's terrifying and exciting, happy and sad, exhilarating and slightly mundane (the hours-long process of people receiving their diplomas can really be a drag).

All in all, the process of graduation is bittersweet, age-old and marks the end of an era. To help you cope with the many emotions that are sure to crop up throughout the day, here is a graduation GIF guide.

And remember, that awkward hat/tassel combo makes everyone look terrible in pictures and gives horrid hat hair, so pack a brush.

So you wake up on graduation day, and know the day has finally arrived

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You made it through finals

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And all the other pressures of academic life, like a true boss

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You prepare yourself for the ceremony by donning that ridiculous cap and gown. But no matter how odd you look, you pull it off, 'cuz today you're a star

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The cap and gown also make you feel highly superior to all those lowly sophomores and freshmen

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The ceremony starts, and the keynote speaker utters at least 100 cliches like, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life"

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But then the Valedictorian says something about how your class will always be friends

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And you just relate so much

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And the emotions begin to flow uncontrollably

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And everyone around you is suddenly like this

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Now it's time for the diplomas to be handed out, and you feel like this

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But you soon realize it's almost your turn to walk across the stage

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They call your name, and even though you spelled it phonetically for them, they manage to royally screw it up

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You make it across the stage without falling, so you feel relieved enough to make this face for your admiring family

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The ceremony is over in the blink of an eye, and everyone is confused about what happens next

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And the only thing you are positive of is that the past four years happened entirely too quickly

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But now it's time to be an adult and find a job

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Congrats, class of '13!

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