Watch: Taylor Swift receives honorary doctorate from New York University

Taylor Swift got to wear a cap and gown for the first time this week. The 32-year-old received a Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, from New York University.

Taylor joined scores of graduates at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday to receive her degree. The 'Shake It Off' hitmaker also gave a commencement address at the ceremony, which was attended by 19,000 students. 

"We are led by our gut instincts, our intuition, our desires and fears, our scars and our dreams. And you will screw it up sometimes. So will I. And when I do, you will most likely read about on the internet. Hard things will happen to us. We will recover. We will learn from it. We will grow more resilient because of it," she said during her speech. 

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Taylor was recognised for her immense contribution to music.

She gave her Instagram followers a behind-the-scenes look at her preparations for the ceremony. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, took pictures of the star on her big day. 

"Wearing a cap and gown for the very first time - see you soon NYU," Taylor captioned the video.  

While addressing the class of 2020, 2021, and 2022 at the joint ceremony, Taylor said she "can’t complain about not having a normal college experience" because they did not have one either due to the pandemic. 

"... being essentially locked into your dorms or having to do classes over Zoom. I imagine the idea of a normal college experience was all you wanted, too. But in this case, you and I both learned that you don’t always get all the things in the bag that you selected from the menu in the delivery service that is life. You get what you get. And as I would like to say to you, you should be very proud of what you’ve done with it," NYU quoted her as saying. 

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Earlier this year, New York University launched a course on Taylor's career.

The course was introduced at the university's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. 

According to Variety, the course aimed to "deconstruct both the appeal and aversions to Taylor Swift through close readings of her music and public discourse as it relates to her own growth as an artist and a celebrity". 

Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and David Beckham have also been the subject of university courses. 

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Main image credit: Instagram/@taylorswift

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