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sisabetSo, yesterday I am awakened by my sister at the door. And she had a check for my rent, soooo that freakout has been avoided. Wow. I am really, extremely, amazingly lucky and have been getting by on that for a very long time now. But, yeah - rent for this month is in the bank and I am relieved and apparently staying put for a while just to see if this can work out.
My new job is wonderful and terrible at the same time *but* the terrible is also part of what makes it wonderful, if that makes any sense at all. It barely makes sense to me, but you know, sometimes I am slow on the uptake. I'm also starting to work on applying to grad school - the deadline is July, but some of the requirements are freaking me out - like a letter of reference from one of my professors. I graduated college 10 years ago. I was an undergrad in a VERY popular major - even if I was slightly memorable, I can't expect anyone to remember me enough to write a letter of reference for me. Hell, I wouldn't feel comfortable applying for a spot in the program based on an assessment of my academic performance ten years ago. I am a very different person now.
I've also got to take the GRE. I took the GRE years ago, maybe 6 or 7? I had Sid, so it was at some point in Sid's lifetime and I had really good scores. I suppose that I have to take the GRE again, though which means I am gonna have to remember math. You know what? Eight years ago this would have been a huge worrier, but now I can just pretend I am researching for an SGA fic in my head. Math sometimes leads to smut and I have fandom to thank for that. YAY motivation.
Also? I cannot BELIEVE I am considering going back to school. I can't believe I am considering a grad program at my alma mater. This is like a terrible idea, except maybe it really isn't. There is a part-time curriculum that will get me my Master's in Social Work in three years. It wouldn't be as if I was taking a class for which I had no aptitude. It wouldn't be as if I was forcing myself to apply my talents to something that they just didn't fit. This is stuff I really dig. This is stuff that I can do and that comes fairly naturally and I find it all incredibly interesting. This could be really really good.
Oh, god they want volunteer hours! I am soooo freaking lazy.
::gets off ass::
My new job is wonderful and terrible at the same time *but* the terrible is also part of what makes it wonderful, if that makes any sense at all. It barely makes sense to me, but you know, sometimes I am slow on the uptake. I'm also starting to work on applying to grad school - the deadline is July, but some of the requirements are freaking me out - like a letter of reference from one of my professors. I graduated college 10 years ago. I was an undergrad in a VERY popular major - even if I was slightly memorable, I can't expect anyone to remember me enough to write a letter of reference for me. Hell, I wouldn't feel comfortable applying for a spot in the program based on an assessment of my academic performance ten years ago. I am a very different person now.
I've also got to take the GRE. I took the GRE years ago, maybe 6 or 7? I had Sid, so it was at some point in Sid's lifetime and I had really good scores. I suppose that I have to take the GRE again, though which means I am gonna have to remember math. You know what? Eight years ago this would have been a huge worrier, but now I can just pretend I am researching for an SGA fic in my head. Math sometimes leads to smut and I have fandom to thank for that. YAY motivation.
Also? I cannot BELIEVE I am considering going back to school. I can't believe I am considering a grad program at my alma mater. This is like a terrible idea, except maybe it really isn't. There is a part-time curriculum that will get me my Master's in Social Work in three years. It wouldn't be as if I was taking a class for which I had no aptitude. It wouldn't be as if I was forcing myself to apply my talents to something that they just didn't fit. This is stuff I really dig. This is stuff that I can do and that comes fairly naturally and I find it all incredibly interesting. This could be really really good.
Oh, god they want volunteer hours! I am soooo freaking lazy.
::gets off ass::
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:01 pm (UTC)Re: letter of rec... Between now and July (that's 3 whole months - practically a quarter), maybe you could approach a (former) professor and offer to do an independent reading thing. Maybe a lit review/synthesis of a sub-area that they're working on/interested in/behind on. You could have regular meetings and talk (read: show off your brilliance). By the end of June, I bet they'd have a LOT of great things to say about you.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:22 pm (UTC)I'm thinking a former supervisor can count as one - and I might hit up someone at the last job, surely out of the 6 I had at least one will write me a letter of rep, if only to insure I never work in their field again. Then I can have someone at *this* job write one for me. A volunteer supervisor would work, according to the app guidelines, but since I haven't physically volunteered anywhere since New Orleans and... well I don't think getting me into grad school is tops on anybody's list there, right at this moment.
I should probably do some volunteer work now. I have time to sign up, be accepted and get trained for something complex - but maybe I should pick something much less involved? Something where I can just step in and start doing whatever it is that needs to be done. I should call the nursing home ombudsman I met last year. I bet she has stuff for me to do and then there would be the added benefit of getting to hang out with old people. I love old people!
Do you think it will be weird, though, not having a professor's recommendation on my app? I did graduate in '96 and I had really good grades, well above the admission requirements, and it was to the same school's psych program. ACK! WHAT AM I DOING???
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:25 pm (UTC)This is so exciting!
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:54 pm (UTC)I think it really depends on the program. Does it have a more research-y flavor, or applied? A quick glance at the Faculty Interests page tells me it's both, but it's hard to tell without talking to the individuals what they're really into.
One thing you could do is contact a professor in the program whose work interests you, and if they're up for a meeting, great! If their work is more on the applied side, maybe a lack of rec from a prof won't hurt your application. Also - don't forget the grad students. They are your best spies. ::cough::
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 06:17 pm (UTC)I haven't thought about research in years - beyond YOU!!!
Dude - I was so drunk Saturday night, I remember rambling something about p-values and statistical probabilities. You might've heard me on the phone, in the background.
::hides in shame::
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 10:03 pm (UTC)It would be weird -- though not killer weird, because you *have* been out of school for a while and the admissions committee will know that.
Do you still have any of the papers you wrote in college? When I'm writing rec letters for students who took classes with me more than a year or two ago, I always ask to see copies of a paper or two that they consider the best work they did in my class, as a refresher. (They sometimes provide comments on how they'd write the paper differently now, which is VERY helpful.) I also ask them to give me an update on what they've been doing in the intervening years, a draft of their personal statement -- basically any information that will help me write an informed letter explaining what strengths and experiences they could bring to whatever they're applying for.
So if you could assemble some of that kind of info for a professor or two -- someone who'd be likely to remember you fondly and for whom you could provide info that might trigger specific memories -- I think it would be worth *trying* to get at least one rec from a professor. If the application's not due until July, you've got plenty of time to make contact, dig out old papers, etc.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:59 pm (UTC)I'm also looking to apply to graduate school and it's been 4 years since I've graduated and I haven't worked in over a year. not sure what I'm going to do about those damned letters of reference. :(
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:28 pm (UTC)Oh! The last time I considered applying to grad school, it was like 3 years after I graduated and I called and talked to a few professors and they did remember me then - so, that might be an option. Also, at least at UK, volunteer work is considered as are volunteer supervisor's letter's of recommendation.
Oh! Last time I was considering this, I was thinking about Occupational Therapy. What I did was contact an OT program (at Touro Hospital in NOLA) and asked about volunteer opportunities and mentorships available with an OT. It was fun and actually showed me that OT was not for me, which was a good thing to know before I moved to Virginia and all for grad school. I forgot all about this! OMG, I could just do that again, only for social work! And I have all sorts of connections now! You could do it too! WHEE!
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:24 pm (UTC)Going back to school is going to be hard. Especially because they don't have any of the things that I loved when I was in school the last time. Like the Trapper Keeper. And Grunge.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:34 pm (UTC)::clutches flannel shirts and doc martens and baby doll dresses::
I'm fairly sure this is what I want to do - or that this degree will enable me to have a job I adore and that I want to go to and maybe one day make enough money to actually buy a house and whatnot. But sooo scary.
I'm lucky, in a way, because moving is not an option at all for me. So it is either this program or a counseling psych degree from Eastern - that is where I am at. So much less to look at, consider and do.
GRE's - don't fret. They just HAPPEN and apparently if you whine enough on AIM, other people will take it upon themselves to just tell you where to go. Much easier with the internet than back when you actually had to make phone calls.
As for the math part? I feel your pain. May I suggest the SGA fandom? Not only do they bring the crack loud and hard (along with the magnificent mansex) they also make math really really hot. Seriously hot. There is, like, math seduction going on. And I always appreciated Kurt Vonnegut's advice about physics being the most useful class one could ever take, but it took this fandom for that advice to finally cement in my brain.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 02:33 am (UTC)Yeah, the GREs, how they do suck. I went back to grad school in my 40s, and basically had to learn algebra and geometry on short notice to make it through the math portion. (I sort of ignored math completely while in high school, and then went to college during those crazy hazy days of the early 70s when nobody really *had* to take much of anything and so I continued to ignore math completely, and it never presented any kind of a life issue until I ran afoul of the freakin' GREs.) The whole thing was a minor annoyance but, just as I ultimately prevailed, so shall you, and I didn't even have SGA fantasies to help me through the whole thing.
I tend to think doing grad school as an Older Non-Trad Student is an excellent idea overall, and what you say in your post--that it's stuff you really dig, find incredibly interesting, comes naturally--is a sign that you're making the right decision. Social work's never going to lead to wealth, power, and limos, but you know, screw that, you'll have fun, even if it is at times of the ohmygod what the hell have I gotten myself into NOW? sort.
I salute you, with the deepest respect and affection, and look forward to hearing continuing tales of Your Life In Grad School.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 05:43 am (UTC)Having an MSW I think is a really good master's to have, very diverse and all that. Can do a lot. I assume that one day I will make enough to buy a house. I've heard of social workers making over 50,000, but I've also heard of people with MSW's making 26,000. Sigh.
So good luck! Just remember that getting through the application/registration/financial part is the actual test of whether you're smart enough to get a degree. Also, the stupid pointless papers, the amount you learn about human development and the amount of time someone says 'strengths perspective' and 'cognitive behavioral therapy' should not make you crazy. After the first year, they start teaching important stuff.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-29 08:54 am (UTC)Your "Whatever" video
Date: 2006-03-30 07:27 pm (UTC)Re: Your "Whatever" video
Date: 2006-03-30 07:28 pm (UTC)Re: Your "Whatever" video
Date: 2006-03-30 07:36 pm (UTC)