Planning, planning, planning...
Introductory sidenote: Thanks for everyone's wells wishes, prayers, and positive vibes. My uncle is in his own room (aka: out of SICU). His long term memory is intact, although he doesn't know where he is or why he is there. He started eating, which is also good news, so all in all he's getting better. It'll still be a few weeks before they figure out if he has any brain damage in particular, but so far he has none (other than short term memory, but that's expected after such a traumatic accident).
So, on to the actual entry. Planning for college is hard! It's especially hard when you are in a couple and both of you are applying to things around the same times, and both people are going into programs with low acceptance rates.
I'm about to go into my senior year of my Bachelor's in Elementary Education, which means it's high time to start applying for grad school. Unfortunately, there is literally only ONE college in the entire state that offers a Master's in Speech Pathology (or even just communication disorders in general). There was another college closer by that offered it but they shut it down my sophomore year of college. Not only is there only one school, but they only take in 35 students, and they have well over 300 students that apply. But there's no way I could afford out of state tuition, so this is literally my ONLY option.
Kim has more options, but they are more complicated. She's going for nursing, which is available at about four schools as a bachelor's program, and one local school as an associate's. UNFORTUNATELY when she was in high school and first going to our current liberal-arts college, she was told that it was easy to go from our college to a local medical university (which is also a hospital, it's one of the best on the coast). Actually, they kind of made it sound like it was easy to get into any of the nursing programs. Flat out lie. At first her plan was to go to the college that I'll be going to for my Master's, but then after tons of people not calling her back and dead email addresses (from the school website) she finally found out that you start your nursing classes as a freshman, and for her to transfer in after her sophomore year would mean that she would have to go to college for three more years (for a total of five years). So she decided to go to the medical university, which it turned out was the school that she had wanted to go to in the first place but had mentally chosen to go to my college to be with me (aww sweet, right? though I've told her she shouldn't give up so much of what she wants). Anyway, come to find out, the medical university only accepts 60 students into the program a year, and if people who already have a bachelor's apply they are more strongly weighted. Their cut of is 80% with a bachelor's which means that there is a chance that Kim will be competing to be one of twelve. And, honestly, her grades this past year, although good, are not likely to be high enough to be one of twelve, especially at such a prestigious college. That leaves Kim looking at other colleges, namely my future college, a local Christian college, a further away Christian, or worst case scenerio a local technical school where she will essentially have gone four years for a two year degree.
I'm honestly really really hoping that she will end up going to my college after all, because I will be in the graduate/family housing building, so I'm sure she could live there with me. Plus it would be much easier to live closer together than further away, my future college is about two hours away which isn't bad but isn't convenient. Although I dread living further away from her, it outright makes Kim anxious (she has a rather anxious personality anyway). Our two year age gap and the fact that she'll have to transfer after her sophomore year means that yet again we're applying for colleges at the same time, which means we both stress about money and academics. I can't even think about what would happen if I didn't get into my program - I honestly hate the idea of teaching. It's so much more work than people realize. Not just paperwork, but actual thinking. I've taught several lessons to second graders already and you have to factor in things like "I have a student who reads at a seventh grade level and a student who can't read. How can I accommodate this lesson to fit both of their needs, without forgetting the second graders who are actually at a second grade level?" Plus, with the first year being the worst, I don't want to teach for a year if I can avoid it. I love working with children, but class sizes (even in elementary/primary, which are typically the smallest class sizes) are far too big for me (hence me going into a field where at most you work with like 6 kids simultaneously).
Then of course, being in a couple means factoring in where everyone has to be at different times, and we're three years away from figuring out where we'll be working. I desperately want to get married after I graduate for my Master's, once me and Kim will have been together for five years, but frankly we won't have the money. I just hate knowing that not only am I broke now, but I'm going to be broke for several years, and I might actually be 25 when I get married because I'm sure that Kim and I won't be able to rely on our families to contribute, since my family stays broke and her stepdad (the breadwinner) doesn't agree with gay marriage. I know it all sounds so trivial to be so concerned about a wedding, but it's so much less stressful to worry about it than to worry about getting a rejection letter from my (maybe) future college.
So, on to the actual entry. Planning for college is hard! It's especially hard when you are in a couple and both of you are applying to things around the same times, and both people are going into programs with low acceptance rates.
I'm about to go into my senior year of my Bachelor's in Elementary Education, which means it's high time to start applying for grad school. Unfortunately, there is literally only ONE college in the entire state that offers a Master's in Speech Pathology (or even just communication disorders in general). There was another college closer by that offered it but they shut it down my sophomore year of college. Not only is there only one school, but they only take in 35 students, and they have well over 300 students that apply. But there's no way I could afford out of state tuition, so this is literally my ONLY option.
Kim has more options, but they are more complicated. She's going for nursing, which is available at about four schools as a bachelor's program, and one local school as an associate's. UNFORTUNATELY when she was in high school and first going to our current liberal-arts college, she was told that it was easy to go from our college to a local medical university (which is also a hospital, it's one of the best on the coast). Actually, they kind of made it sound like it was easy to get into any of the nursing programs. Flat out lie. At first her plan was to go to the college that I'll be going to for my Master's, but then after tons of people not calling her back and dead email addresses (from the school website) she finally found out that you start your nursing classes as a freshman, and for her to transfer in after her sophomore year would mean that she would have to go to college for three more years (for a total of five years). So she decided to go to the medical university, which it turned out was the school that she had wanted to go to in the first place but had mentally chosen to go to my college to be with me (aww sweet, right? though I've told her she shouldn't give up so much of what she wants). Anyway, come to find out, the medical university only accepts 60 students into the program a year, and if people who already have a bachelor's apply they are more strongly weighted. Their cut of is 80% with a bachelor's which means that there is a chance that Kim will be competing to be one of twelve. And, honestly, her grades this past year, although good, are not likely to be high enough to be one of twelve, especially at such a prestigious college. That leaves Kim looking at other colleges, namely my future college, a local Christian college, a further away Christian, or worst case scenerio a local technical school where she will essentially have gone four years for a two year degree.
I'm honestly really really hoping that she will end up going to my college after all, because I will be in the graduate/family housing building, so I'm sure she could live there with me. Plus it would be much easier to live closer together than further away, my future college is about two hours away which isn't bad but isn't convenient. Although I dread living further away from her, it outright makes Kim anxious (she has a rather anxious personality anyway). Our two year age gap and the fact that she'll have to transfer after her sophomore year means that yet again we're applying for colleges at the same time, which means we both stress about money and academics. I can't even think about what would happen if I didn't get into my program - I honestly hate the idea of teaching. It's so much more work than people realize. Not just paperwork, but actual thinking. I've taught several lessons to second graders already and you have to factor in things like "I have a student who reads at a seventh grade level and a student who can't read. How can I accommodate this lesson to fit both of their needs, without forgetting the second graders who are actually at a second grade level?" Plus, with the first year being the worst, I don't want to teach for a year if I can avoid it. I love working with children, but class sizes (even in elementary/primary, which are typically the smallest class sizes) are far too big for me (hence me going into a field where at most you work with like 6 kids simultaneously).
Then of course, being in a couple means factoring in where everyone has to be at different times, and we're three years away from figuring out where we'll be working. I desperately want to get married after I graduate for my Master's, once me and Kim will have been together for five years, but frankly we won't have the money. I just hate knowing that not only am I broke now, but I'm going to be broke for several years, and I might actually be 25 when I get married because I'm sure that Kim and I won't be able to rely on our families to contribute, since my family stays broke and her stepdad (the breadwinner) doesn't agree with gay marriage. I know it all sounds so trivial to be so concerned about a wedding, but it's so much less stressful to worry about it than to worry about getting a rejection letter from my (maybe) future college.