OK, so what's up with the grad school applications that I told you about in Next Steps? So, here's an overview of where we sit. This time around I'm listing the schools in what I think is the order of likelihood of me attending:

1. University of Minnesota - pending
2. University of Michigan - accepted!
3. University of Washington - waitlisted
4. Maryville University - accepted!
5. CUNY - pending (but it was my fault?)
6. New College of Florida - accepted!
7. University of Texas - incomplete - may stay that way

OK, so let's walk through these:

University of Minnesota

Not much to say new here. Like I mentioned in Next Steps it's a good program, a good school and Minneapolis could be fun. Let's see. 🙂

University of Michigan

I think I covered Michigan in my last post. But the short version is that Michigan is #2 because it's a great program from a top-tier school. I think, from a pure "rankings" perspective, Michigan is a better school than Minnesota. The reason I gave Minnesota the edge is the non-school factor - namely wanting to live in Minneapolis, MN over Dearborn, MI.

University of Washington

UW has two factors going for it. The first, big one is that UW's MS program is 1.5 years compared to everyone else's 2 years. I'm old. Old as shit. Time matters. This plays huge into considering UW... although I am waitlisted. If can finish 6 months earlier, that adds a premium to this program that none of the rest offer.

The second positive about UW is that I'm local. I would save thousands of dollars simply by not having to rent a uhaul and move myself wherever.

I don't think either of the above points should be trivialized. If I get accept to UW, I may make a last-minute decision and pivot this way regardless of Michigan & Minnesota. I honestly don't know how likely it is, since I'm not accepted, but it is a possibility. 🙂

Maryville University

At #4 on the list... it's looking less likely that Maryville will end up on top. Like UW, Maryville also has two majory factors that attract me:

First, Maryville is very close to some great friends... and their adorable little kids to seem fucking insisent on growing up. If I can just live anywhere I want for 2 years, regardless of location, I'd love to be closer to them before their kids are too old to recognize me.

Secondly, you know what, out of all the universities I've dealt with so far, Maryville has been the most welcoming, helpful and responsive. If we didn't rank schools and assign levels of prestige, if not value, based on school name I would've accepted Maryville and been there by now. However, I think I made that mistake with my undergrad and for the Master's, I'm less inclined to keep swimming up hill. If this dumb shit matter to people, then it does I guess.

CUNY

What's there to say here? Honestly, the only reason I added CUNY was because of nostalgia. It would be kind of cool to live in NYC again. That said... CUNY has made it very clear they don't give a shit who goes there. Their entire application process reads like: "go here, don't go here, what do we care?" CUNY should be bottom of the list except for...

But, as far as the application process goes. While I took all but two of my undergrad courses at Portland State between 2009 and 2013, I did happen to take 2 courses at a university in Texas back in 1999 ( 1999!! 😂 do you ever type something out and realize how much of a fuckingn dinosaur you sound like? 1999. Haha...). Well, CUNY is the only university that has asked for my transcripts from TX.

Honestly, I totally missed that they updated the application with that request. I've gone and sent and a request for transcripts from that school as well. But the CUNY application deadline is April 15th, and it's really a crapshoot whether or not I'll get the transcript in time or not.

We'll see, but either way CUNY isn't super likely at this point.

New College of Florida

I think I covered this already, but it's short so let's do it again.

The appeal of NCF is simple - spend two years on a Florida beach. I'm in.

Unfortunately, the degree is a "Master's of Applied Science" and not a "Master's of Science". I genuinely don't know if this semantic nonsense or if this actually matters. But I that there's a reason for this distinction and, quite frankly, there are too many other better educational opportunities on this list... even if they're not beachside. 🙁

University of Texas

This one's easy. There's one appeal and only one appeal to UT's program: It's 100% online and self-paced.

Look, if I knew, 100% that I would end up with an education and degree (and alumni support!) that was exactly on par with the on-campus degrees, this would be my #1 choice. By far. I would enroll, get a plane to Costa Rica, and spend 1.5-2 years living on beaches while getting a Master's degree. But, honestly, I just don't have the confidence that the rest of the world is ready to accept online degrees with the same sincereity as traditional ones.

This would be awesome. But I think it's too idealistic.

That said, UT's application process has been super shady. They're the only school to ask for my letters of recommendation and application fee before asking for the rest of my documentation, like transcripts and shit.

Worse yet, among the additional docs that UT is requesting, they're also requesting that I take some sort of entrance exam. I think it's called "Quest" or something like that? I onliy briefly looked into what this was, but it seems to be a multi-hour test that also includes an additional fee. Asking me for an entrance exam and an additional fee after you've taken my application fee seems borderline corrupt.

I may change my mind in the coming weeks (applications are due May 1st), but I'm likely just going to let this one go.

So...

So that's where things sit. The last month or so has been mostly waiting. Most of the time all of this feels a bit unreal still. I'm still not sure I"m doing it I guess? And if I am sure, it hasn't hit me? I don't know. There are these brief moments where it feel like "oh shit! are we really??"... but so far... I don't know, let's see...