Almost Done!

It has been a long year. So, to celebrate: A LONG POST! I can’t believe I’ve already been at Western for over a year, now. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I left. Not like living in NYC that first year, that felt like forever.

Time for the pre-break update!

Stuff Goin’ On Now

I just declared a minor. Yes, in addition to my double major. Total overachiever. I was only three classes away from finishing a World Literature minor in addition to my writing and communication majors, so I thought “What the hell? How bad could more reading be?” I’m going to regret that thought, I’m positive of it. But I’ve been considering going to grad school, so I think that having a literature minor will make me a little more competitive.

I won’t graduate until Fall 2012. I wanted to be finished in two years, including summers, which would have had me graduating in the Summer II semester next year, but due to some changes in the university, and a little personal reason, I’ve pushed it back a semester. I know some of you heard me complaining about my university’s change in credit caps. Basically how it works is that once you’ve paid for 12 credits, you can take up to 16 credits for that same flat rate. Well, starting this semester, they changed the cap from 16 to 15, which basically adds up to a whole class over the course of a year (1 credit less, 4 semesters) that I’d have to take in the fall. I also realized that if I graduated in the Summer II semester, I wouldn’t have a graduation ceremony. By this point, I don’t see this being that big of a deal, especially since I recently started considering grad school, and the longer I’m in school the more it seems like I’ll never leave, but I know that my graduating will probably be a big deal for some of my family, and especially for my younger siblings to be able to see because none of them were able to attend my ceremony from AMDA. So I want the ceremony. So that means: Fall 2012!

Grad school? Okay, I’ve said it a few times now, so you may be wondering to yourself:

What do you mean grad school? I thought you wanted to be done with school? Can you afford that? Where are you going to go? What are you going to study in grad school? Is it even worth it?

or, more simply,

DEAR GOD WHY!?

Well, to answer your question, I blame Dr. Adams. He’s one of my english professors and one of our school’s graduate advisors. He reignited a few little sparks for me that had been smoldering on the back burners for a while now, and after a few chats with him about the prospects and possibilities, I decided that it’s actually a very good fit for me. Dr. Adams is the sort of instructor that makes you want to teach. Which I would have no problem doing, and I’d always thought that’d be a good back-up plan, and being that a lot of theater teachers aren’t hired to teach only theater – they’re usually english teachers as well – I think it’s a good way to go. So what does this all mean? I’m considering going to grad school. But… only on the following conditions.

• I want to attend a school in New York City so that I can continue pursuing theater.
• I only have a few schools in mind that I’d like to attend, and I am aiming for those schools. If I don’t get in, I try again the next year, and if I still don’t get in, I don’t go. At least not until I’ve decided that theater is no longer a professional prospect, and I’d rather move elsewhere and teach or start my theater company.
• I won’t go unless I can get a fellowship or apprenticeship which will pay my tuition – and hopefully also pay me to teach. I don’t want to have any more student loans on my plate.
• I am taking a year off. From graduation in December of 2012, until the fall semester of 2013, I am done with school. I’ll spend the year composing my writing samples, studying for the GRE and taking practice tests, working and auditioning, and writing entrance essays.

Based on those things, and a smaller list of curricular criteria, I’ve gotten my school list down to a small handful in NYC (if you’re interested in the curricular aspect, and what I want to study in grad school, feel free to leave a comment). They’re all extremely hard to get into. If I get in, I’m going to freak out. And if I don’t, I can wait until I do. Grad school for me is something I’m passionate about, and I feel will add to my marketability and experiences, but that I don’t feel is absolutely necessary at this exact moment in time. I do plan on going back someday, even if I don’t go back after my yearlong break, but I’m in no specific rush. I do think, though, that it’d be best for me to get back into it as soon as possible so I don’t lose the academic momentum that I’ve gathered here at Western.

So about my birthday cards… So… what I like to do when I get monetary gifts for a holiday… is I like to wait until I’ve spent the damned dollars so that when I go to thank someone for it, I can tell them just how cool whatever-the-junk was that I spent it on. Unfortunately when you go to college, spending cash in your pocket is either too tempting to spend on pizza, or it somehow manages to sneak its way into bill payments. This year, though, I promised myself I wasn’t going to just spend it on bills, and I’d actually get something cool. So I waited. And I saved it. And then I waited some more. And now all of a sudden it’s December, I finally just spent it like a month ago, and I still haven’t gotten to thank anyone for it. So I got this really cool dress, right?

Anyway, I sent out some thank you cards. So. They’re coming. They should beat me home. I also probably fed myself at some point with some of it. And I also probably put some gas in my car to come home with some of it. So whatever gift you wanna think your money went to, they’re all pretty equally awesome at this stage of my life.

Advertisement