Let the Good Times Roll

Well, this weekend I accomplished something I've been saying I'll do for two or three years now -- apply to grad school. In the end, it turns out that i missed the Harvard deadline, which is just as well because i was still undecided about it, and that was my last choice anyway. It's just a bit too traditional for me. I applied to Brown, Boston University, Tufts, and UMass Amherst.

All have great programs, and all have classes that look thought provoking. They all have plusses and minuses. UMass Amherst, while not the top choice nor the most highly regarded, is in one of my favorite areas in New England. It almost feels as home as Maine does. Not quite, but almost. With Tufts, though i have been turned off (personally) and warned against the undergraduate student body several times, has a fantastically active English student organization called TEGO (Tufts English Graduate Organization) that holds colloquia, important departmental activities, and acts as an academic support group that i lacked as an undergrad in a self-designed curriculum. Brown has the program that i would write for myself, which, as stated in my personal statement to them, i have had the fortune to do before, so it means a lot coming from me. But it's in Providence, which, while i hear is lovely, would mean quite a bit of commuting should we decide to stay in the metro Boston area. Boston University is a crappy campus in my opinion, but the American Studies program is interdepartmental, and the opportunities for networking and intellectual stimulation sound great.

So, now it's out of my hands, aside from emailing my last remaining recommender who doesn't have her recommendations in for me yet, just to check in. It is up to the winds now, and it feels really good. Now all i have to do is wait. Oh, and write that paper for that conference i'll hopefully be attending in March. But it's a new project, which frankly, is invigorating.