Studies of a Graduate Student

The idea of graduate school isn't really new for me.  See below.

I posted this, as you read, in late November 2011 (although I had thought about it many times before that, even as an undergrad at CMU).  This wasn't too long after my first contract position at Dow came to an end.  I was feeling very strange about my life and knew I wanted it to change.  I started to look into programs and schools slightly, but was pretty convinced I was just going to re-enroll at CMU - I mean, I knew the program and everyone I'd be working with, so it just seemed appropriate.

I started working at Dow again the following February, so I delayed the searching.  I went through some highs and lows in this position, but seriously started looking into schools again in the summer of 2012.  I talked with my would-be faculty advisor at CMU and was really pumped to explore some research opportunities involving science olympiad.  I talked with the faculty member in charge of graduate admissions to the department at the school and was sadly informed that the program I was looking to apply for was being eliminated.  Apparently it didn't matter that one could still request information about the program and apply online to the program. 

I moved on because it was very clear to me at that point that I did in fact not want to give any more money to my alma mater.  Pretty sad, too, as I would have poured my heart into the school once again.  I could have followed another degree path with the university, but it wouldn't be fulfilling my initial dream of studying secondary education. I refused to change my goals just to keep things familiar and comfortable.  I started looking seriously into other schools at this point.  I only looked at schools that had programs suited for me so I wouldn't get my hopes up again.

So anyway, I eventually applied to a few schools, got some acceptance letters, and now I'm a student at Clemson University!