that's dr. willson to you, mister.
wow. 2 entries in one day. i haven't done this seriously since 2002.
this one is serious, though. serious as in i'd like to take a short moment here to do a few things, a few things that will all happen as a result of me writing about my plans for the future. things this will accomplish:
x give an overview to myself of myself that i will undoubtedly look back on years from now and laugh at.
x let the people who care know what's up.
x just write about all of this as a catharsis, as it's already all scaring me.
so today was the big day. the first big step. my sister and my mom did it; they convinced me to start looking at gre information and grad schools. holy shit, right? don't get me wrong - it's not them pressuring me to go to grad school - i seriously want to go to grad school and being a connoisseur in southern european (italy and spain) baroque art history (nerd alert!), it's just them sort of giving me a friendly nudge that some real serious thought should start going in, even if i'm taking a year off between graduating from mary wash and going to whatever grad school decides that they can look at my art history gpa and totally forget my cumulative (thanks, freshman year!). with all of this said, here's my plan:
1) finish off year here at mary wash as double major in studio art and art history. get cumulative up if possible, if not, settle with the fact i have a 3.2 cumulative. the major gpa's are much better, trust me. take gre's at some point and get reminded of what a dumb fuck i am in math (this is actually a proven fact. if you want to see my high school report cards and freshman year math scores, lemme know.) and curse it all as it has absolutely nothing to do with my major. apply to grad schools and if i get into any i want (to be listed later) to attend, either defer admission a year or dive straight in like a way too hopeful and naive horse's ass.
2) if deferment is the plan, i want to either (both seriously considered at this point):
a) go to germany for a year and teach english or
b) raise money here with boring ass job and spend some time in puerto rico with my family down there.
3) go to grad school eventually, be it straight from undergrad or after a year off. schools that i am looking at (and this is no means the final list at this point):
- university of delaware (this is a definite at this point - they have one of the best, if not the best, italian baroque studies program in the states)
- rutgers
- university of michigan
- penn state
- university of maryland
- columbia (what?! yeah, i decided that i'd include one of those super crazy schools just in case there is the slim chance i could get in - margie said i could, so what the hell, why not?)
i may or may not end up at any of those places. i need to find out financial information (this may inform my decision of deferment v. diving straight in), email professors in the programs, actually visit the schools, talk to professors here, do more research, take the gre's. all of these will tell me where i need to go. things always end up how they're supposed to, right? okay, now that all of this is out of the way, in the spirit of lists, here are my current emotions and thoughts about all of this currently:
1) scared shitless. i have no idea where to start, what to do, where to look, who to ask, blah blah blah the list goes on.
2) confused because of all the things in #1.
3) excited! i have no idea what i'll be doing in a year from now or where i'll be.
4) happy that one day i'll be a ph.d.! a doctor! ha! this makes me happy for two reasons:
a) i'll be signing things dr. s. elizabeth willson. actually that's kind of scary to see written out.
b) when i'm on a plane or in a restaurant and someone yells, "is there a doctor in the house?!" i can yell, "yes! oh shit, wait, nevermind."
that last statement, #4a, makes me realize i'm REALLY not ready for this. but i'm still going to smile about it because that's how i'm doing it these days: scared shitless but smiling and strangely happy/optimistic because i have no reason not to be yet.
more to come in the years ahead.
this one is serious, though. serious as in i'd like to take a short moment here to do a few things, a few things that will all happen as a result of me writing about my plans for the future. things this will accomplish:
x give an overview to myself of myself that i will undoubtedly look back on years from now and laugh at.
x let the people who care know what's up.
x just write about all of this as a catharsis, as it's already all scaring me.
so today was the big day. the first big step. my sister and my mom did it; they convinced me to start looking at gre information and grad schools. holy shit, right? don't get me wrong - it's not them pressuring me to go to grad school - i seriously want to go to grad school and being a connoisseur in southern european (italy and spain) baroque art history (nerd alert!), it's just them sort of giving me a friendly nudge that some real serious thought should start going in, even if i'm taking a year off between graduating from mary wash and going to whatever grad school decides that they can look at my art history gpa and totally forget my cumulative (thanks, freshman year!). with all of this said, here's my plan:
1) finish off year here at mary wash as double major in studio art and art history. get cumulative up if possible, if not, settle with the fact i have a 3.2 cumulative. the major gpa's are much better, trust me. take gre's at some point and get reminded of what a dumb fuck i am in math (this is actually a proven fact. if you want to see my high school report cards and freshman year math scores, lemme know.) and curse it all as it has absolutely nothing to do with my major. apply to grad schools and if i get into any i want (to be listed later) to attend, either defer admission a year or dive straight in like a way too hopeful and naive horse's ass.
2) if deferment is the plan, i want to either (both seriously considered at this point):
a) go to germany for a year and teach english or
b) raise money here with boring ass job and spend some time in puerto rico with my family down there.
3) go to grad school eventually, be it straight from undergrad or after a year off. schools that i am looking at (and this is no means the final list at this point):
- university of delaware (this is a definite at this point - they have one of the best, if not the best, italian baroque studies program in the states)
- rutgers
- university of michigan
- penn state
- university of maryland
- columbia (what?! yeah, i decided that i'd include one of those super crazy schools just in case there is the slim chance i could get in - margie said i could, so what the hell, why not?)
i may or may not end up at any of those places. i need to find out financial information (this may inform my decision of deferment v. diving straight in), email professors in the programs, actually visit the schools, talk to professors here, do more research, take the gre's. all of these will tell me where i need to go. things always end up how they're supposed to, right? okay, now that all of this is out of the way, in the spirit of lists, here are my current emotions and thoughts about all of this currently:
1) scared shitless. i have no idea where to start, what to do, where to look, who to ask, blah blah blah the list goes on.
2) confused because of all the things in #1.
3) excited! i have no idea what i'll be doing in a year from now or where i'll be.
4) happy that one day i'll be a ph.d.! a doctor! ha! this makes me happy for two reasons:
a) i'll be signing things dr. s. elizabeth willson. actually that's kind of scary to see written out.
b) when i'm on a plane or in a restaurant and someone yells, "is there a doctor in the house?!" i can yell, "yes! oh shit, wait, nevermind."
that last statement, #4a, makes me realize i'm REALLY not ready for this. but i'm still going to smile about it because that's how i'm doing it these days: scared shitless but smiling and strangely happy/optimistic because i have no reason not to be yet.
more to come in the years ahead.