Finals and freedom. Polyester robes and ill-fitting caps. Tassels, yearbooks, and Vitamin C’s seminal 1999 classic.

Yep, you guessed it, it’s graduation time.

Commencement may be a few weeks away, but now’s the time to start shopping for that perfect graduation gift. You can check out our entire line of “graduated cylinder” products here, and to help you get in the matriculation spirit, I’ve put together a list of my Top Three TV Graduation Moments. Without further ado:

#3. “What a Difference a Day Makes” Grey’s Anatomy, season 5, episode 22

Technically, it’s a wedding episode, but the case of the week is a car full of kids brought into the ER after their SUV gets hit by a semi—on the day of their college graduation. It’s Grey’s at its finest: Devastating yet somehow life affirming, with enough signature snark to make the whole episode worth the dizzying trip through the emotional wringer.

The shining moment—even more so than Alex and Izzie’s surprise wedding—and the reason it makes the list, is the speech Becca, the only one to survive, recites to Alex before she goes under for surgery. Unlike many written-for-TV valedictory addresses, this feels like one you might actually hear at a graduation ceremony. It’s equal parts hopeful and sincere; a reminder of just how young we still are when we graduate from college made all the more tragic as Becca’s voice plays over the faces of her friends who didn’t make it. I dare you not to cry.

#2. “Those Are Strings, Pinocchio” Gilmore Girls, season 3, episode 22

There are two Gilmore graduations that could have made this list, but as much as we are all proud of Rory for graduating from Yale, this one is a no-brainer: Rory’s Chilton graduation is the clear winner.

Where do I even start? Luke and Jackson’s reverent discussion of Chilton’s centuries-old architecture? (“Wow, look at the gargoyles.”) Sookie bumping her way in and out of her row at least four times? Brad’s musical farewell? (“Bong, bong!”) Lorelai and Rory sticking their tongues out in celebration? I regret my standard, smiling graduation photo every time.

My favorite, though, has got to be Luke—that old softie—crying during the ceremony. (“I’m blubbering; you’re freaks!”) And who can blame him? Rory’s sweet, heartfelt tribute to Emily, Richard, and Lorelai still makes me shed a tear.

#1. “Pilot” Felicity, season 1, episode 1

Has there ever been a graduation moment more enduringly swoonworthy than Ben writing in Felicity’s yearbook? A graduation moment more life-altering or with such great hair?

I think not.

Is Felicity’s decision to abandon her parents’ Stanford plans and follow Ben 3,000 miles to New York City impulsive? Sure. Reckless? Maybe. But it’s a decision that sparks the next four seasons of quintessential late-90s television, and I mean, after reading a note like that, who wouldn’t? Ben is a total heartthrob. (Have I mentioned the hair?)

But this moment tops the list because it isn’t really about the boy or even the next four years. It’s about Felicity taking a risk for the first time, making a decision and choosing the life she wants—the life she can create—even if it’s a life her parents don’t understand. It perfectly captures that feeling of stepping out into the world on your own: terrifying and thrilling—because anything can happen. After all, aren’t the best endings the ones that feel like beginnings?

So, how’d I do? Too much sappy, not enough funny? What’d I miss? Was my vote for Felicity swayed by my love for Peter Gabriel?