Pages

Sunday, February 28, 2010

I Spoke too Soon

"Dear Jenna: I am pleased to inform you that the MSW Admissions committee of the College of Social Work has recommended your application for admission for full time study in the 2-year MSW Program beginning Fall 2010."

:D

Friday, February 26, 2010

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (but not like Jack)

It's been about 3 months since I turned in my grad school application and still no word. Every day I do a good job of keeping my mind off if it but as soon as I walk in the door at the end of the day I think to myself, "I need to check the mail!" And even though I know the letter isn't going to show up for another two or three months, I'm always a little put out that it isn't waiting for me on the table. This is the worst part of it. At least when I applied for college I applied for three different places and knew I would get into all three. It was just a matter of who would give me a scholarship. But this time I foolishly only applied for one program even though I had my eyes on two others out of state. Plus there is zero guarantee I'll get in. The program I applied for only accepts about 50% of its applicants and I'm guessing that number is up last year and this because of many more applicants looking for something to do since they can't find a job. I convinced myself that applying to other schools was kind of a waste of time and money since they were so crazy expensive but I am definitely regretting that decision right now. Why didn't I finish that application to Tulane and U Conn? Why didn't I look at other programs I had been interested in before like an MBA in Corporate Social Responsibility at Nottingham University and that school in Geneva? Why not look again at International Development at basically all of the schools in DC since that's what I'm planning to do with International Social Work anyway? Boo. I guess if the U doesn't work out and I can't find a job in D.C. (which is looking like that very well may happen) I can always move to Salt Lake and either keep my current job for another year or find some other random job and try all those places next year. At least by then my student loans will be for sure paid off. But like all regrets and struggles this for sure has been a learning experience: when in doubt, go overboard.

At least I have something to look forward to in a couple of months. I booked tickets to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for May 13th. I keep an ongoing bucket list and that is very near the top. I got four tickets and I've been having trouble finding people to go with me but I've almost decided that I'm going whether or not I can find anyone else. If I do end up going on my own I'm thinking I'll just stay in a hostel for a couple of nights and make it a shorter trip. Plane tickets to Newark are only $300 and that's less than one week of work for me so I can totally swing that. Sure, spending 3 days in New York on my own might get a little boring at times, but I've wandered around the city on my own a lot and I've always really enjoyed it and I've never once felt unsafe there. Granted the shadiest places I've been in New York have been Brooklyn and the outskirts of Chinatown, but I'm not exactly planning on heading down to Jamaica Queens or Spanish Harlem or anything. But if I DO find people to go, I wouldn't mind making it a little longer trip and spending maybe two or three days in NYC and taking the Chinatown bus (or a slightly less liner) down to D.C. for a bit. Good grief I miss that place.