Saturday, February 9, 2008
one year later...
It was a year ago, give or take a day, that I got my first offer from a PhD program—from my #2 choice. Some of you may remember that I was initially excited about it, stayed excited, worried that I was too excited about it just because they were the first ones to say they wanted me, stressed about it when #1 school also wanted me, and ultimately decided to go #2 school in the end.
Truly, there are no words that can express just how right that decision was...no matter the whole having-to-keep-my-California-job and real estate market crap. This place, the school formerly known as "#2 choice," is awesome. Snow, ice, tiny town and all.
Right now, some of our MA students are taking their exams, preparing to graduate, and waiting for those phone calls and thick envelopes from PhD programs. A few have had rejections and been ok with it because they were on the fence about the next step anyway. A few have been accepted places that were maybe not their first choice, but boy is it good to know that someone, somewhere wants you.
And then there's one particular friend of mine who applied to exactly one PhD program, confident that it was a 100% match all around. Given that SU's CCR program isn't exactly Jimmy Joe Jack's House of English Studyin', well, that girl's got some chutzpah. And she was right—she's now in that "we're going to invite you to campus and make sure you're not a lunatic, a jackass, or exceptionally dumb before we offer you anything for real" stage of the process. I could not not be happier for her!
So there's a lot of angst around here, but also a lot of glee. As for me, one year later, you can put me in the "glee" camp.
Truly, there are no words that can express just how right that decision was...no matter the whole having-to-keep-my-California-job and real estate market crap. This place, the school formerly known as "#2 choice," is awesome. Snow, ice, tiny town and all.
Right now, some of our MA students are taking their exams, preparing to graduate, and waiting for those phone calls and thick envelopes from PhD programs. A few have had rejections and been ok with it because they were on the fence about the next step anyway. A few have been accepted places that were maybe not their first choice, but boy is it good to know that someone, somewhere wants you.
And then there's one particular friend of mine who applied to exactly one PhD program, confident that it was a 100% match all around. Given that SU's CCR program isn't exactly Jimmy Joe Jack's House of English Studyin', well, that girl's got some chutzpah. And she was right—she's now in that "we're going to invite you to campus and make sure you're not a lunatic, a jackass, or exceptionally dumb before we offer you anything for real" stage of the process. I could not not be happier for her!
So there's a lot of angst around here, but also a lot of glee. As for me, one year later, you can put me in the "glee" camp.
Labels: grad school