Praise Be!

[sadlikeknives]

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

So, I've been wibbling a whole heck of a lot over what I was going to do after graduation. 'Grad school' seemed like a good bet, so I was looking at English grad school and kind of planning to be a professor, except honestly, I don't think I'd make a very good teacher. But I like the atmosphere of schools. I wasn't sure what to do about that. I had a pack of January first and fifteenth deadlines looming and hadn't even started applying, because somewhere deep inside I realized this was not the answer.

I went home this weekend for my great-grandmother's 92nd birthday party, and in the stack of mail that got sent to my house was a letter from the college of education here at UA. See, my overall GPA is pretty darn good and my GPA in my major is over a 4.0, so UA's grad schools have been throwing literature at me. This one in particular was about the master's program in Higher Education Administration.

And it clicked. While I was still reading the letter, I thought, Of course. This is it. I can work at colleges and not be a professor. And if I decide later on that I want to do something else, a lot of places employees get discounts on tuition, so I could do that. It's perfect.

They're having an open house at the end of November for interested parties, and of course I'm going, but I think I've pretty much decided this is what I'm doing. And it's an amazing feeling.

And the deadline isn't until March.

Comments

[celli]

Hey, that's awesome!

[coltsbane.livejournal.com]

Rock on!

[auroura76.livejournal.com]

Dude. Niiiiiiice. That sounds pretty awesome.

Also, your icon always makes me ridiculously happy. It's so cute!

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

It's such a relief to actually know what I'm doing.

This icon always makes me smile. I'm glad it cheers other people up, too!

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

Yay! You should look around and see if other schools have the same Masters in Higher Ed Administration program. That sounds excellent.

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm looking into other schools, because there are some things I was really looking forward to leaving behind about UA (i.e., the nightmarish parking situation and the lack of a decent CD store in Tuscaloosa), but if I do wind up staying here another two years, it won't be too bad. We might actually beat Auburn sometime before I graduate! Also, in-state tuition, and the Barnes & Noble that's gonna open soonishly.

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

Heh, yes, in state tuition is pretty snazzy. The main reason that I'd recommend checking out other places is that you don't want to get yourself branded as the Alabama girl when applying for jobs later, especially since you'll be looking to work in colleges and universities, and you may want to show that you have experience with different places/types of schools, etc. But that may also be something to bring up to the people at this program and see what they say. Yay!

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

I had thought of that, but the thing is, I'm still going to label myself 'that Alabama girl' as soon as I open my mouth, anyway. All the reasons I was told to ditch my accent and talk like someone from Iowa when I was eight still apply, and they're going to regardless of where I go to school.

I am going to speak to the people in the program about this, though, and I'm still looking at other programs. A few of the places I've looked at so far seem to want you to have some experience in the field first, which is not the impression I've gotten from UA's program. So that's something to consider.

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

I had thought of that, but the thing is, I'm still going to label myself 'that Alabama girl' as soon as I open my mouth, anyway. All the reasons I was told to ditch my accent and talk like someone from Iowa when I was eight still apply, and they're going to regardless of where I go to school.

No, that's not what I mean -- I don't mean that you're from Alabama, but that you'll only have any academic experience in Alabama, and I think other universities who may want to hire you down the road may what you to have academic experience at other universities, just so you know what it's like to be in a different kind of school

[vampychick.livejournal.com]

Right, but I'm saying they're both handicaps.

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

Eh, I don't think being from Alabama is a handicap, but I think being from Alabama and never having any experience outside of Alambama might be.