My Visit in March

I talked a while ago about how I made a trip to SC in March of this year to meet with people at Clemson.  I scheduled this trip within hours of receiving my acceptance notification from the university.   The actual trip (aka driving and such) was only tolerable because I had a friend in the car with me, but my time in SC was wonderful.  We arrived in SC on a Saturday afternoon.  We didn't do much until Sunday when we went to visit campus.  We walked all around the area surrounding Tillman Hall, as that was the building where I was going to be meeting faculty and staff.  I spent some time trying to plan my navigation through campus and where I'd end up parking my car for the meetings.

Campus is beautiful.

Football Stadium - Death Valley

Tillman Hall

That following Monday was my day to meet with pretty much everyone involved with the MAT program.  I started in Tillman Hall, meeting with a group of faculty members who were on the selection committee for the scholarship I actually received.  I had been given some directions ahead of time for where to find this group of individuals - they had invited me to come just as they finished their meeting so that I could meet everyone while they were still gathered - but I didn't really know where I was going.  As I exited the elevator in Tillman, I immediately recognized the faculty member who had initially interviewed me with the program coordinator (PC) via Skype.  She was pleased to see me and had heard about my scheduled visit.

She was kind enough to walk me to the meeting location and introduced me to the group, including the PC I had been talking with for months.  It was so awesome to be able to meet with the group and to be able to ask questions.  They were beyond welcoming and were excited for me to be visiting campus.  I felt like they really cared about the school and were honored to have me as a guest.

After a bit of conversation with these wonderful individuals, the PC took me to a nearby coffee shop to chat one-on-one.  It was such a relief to know that she really was just as friendly and helpful as I had assumed just from talking with her for a few months from Michigan.  I liked that I had the opportunity to sit down with her and be honest with her about my goals and such.  We talked about how the program would be a good fit for me, but we also talked about a few of the concerns I had.  It was a really good chat.

From there, she and I visited my would-be advisor.  We discussed the program more specifically and he told me a little more about the classes I'd be taking to earn science certification.  He and the PC talked with me about tuition and costs as an out-of-state student, but weren't able to give me any specifics.  The PC, however, took that time to tell me that I had been chosen as a scholarship recipient, so that definitely eased my mind a little on the money situation.

We were a little short on time, so we had to quickly make our way to a local school district to observe a 2012-13 cohort member student teaching.  That apparently didn't go as the PC had planned, as the entrance to the school was hidden behind construction, and we had to walk quite a ways to find our way into the school.  After all that, we ended up just watching a movie in the class.  We did get a chance to talk with the grad student and her CT, though, so that was nice!

Our schedule then took us to the satellite location of campus.  We were both hungry at this point, so we decided on dining at a cool Chinese restaurant near the school.  It was delicious.  This is when I first learned that brown rice is automatically an option for you in SC.  Woot!

After lunch we went to campus and met with another Clemson staff member who's really involved with the MAT program.  It was awesome talking with her and learning more about the satellite location and the surrounding areas.  I learned that she'd be helping me schedule my classes for the summer (which ended up being so nice because the site was a little confusing!).

After speaking with her, the PC and I trotted upstairs to meet with the group of science students in the 2012-13 cohort.  I had the opportunity (as mentioned in a previous post) to talk with the solo chemistry member of the group, and she gave me a bunch of advice and information about the program that was really helpful regarding my eventual decision.  It was nice to get the perspective of the program from a student.  She was really friendly and talked with me about her experiences being in a chemistry classroom.  She was definitely super excited about her path and her decision to be a part of this program.  When her class (the reason all science cohorts were in one location at the same time) started, we moved inside the room with the rest of the class and the PC introduced me to everyone.  Each person was again extremely kind and welcoming, and a few students gave me broader advice about making a decision.  It was really nice and made me smile a bunch as I knew that these students were at the peak of the program - student teaching and taking classes - and the fact that they could set aside those stressors to talk with me was very heartwarming.

Our day ended with the trip back to Clemson.  I thanked the PC for a wonderful day and ended up giving her a hug (whoa, right?).  I had just felt so great about being there and appreciated each conversation I had that day.  She had set all of that up!  Such a wonderful day!  I knew I had been won over, but I also knew that it was a big decision and that I had a lot of stuff to think about before making any commitments.

HA, funny Ashley.  I knew that day that it was going to be very unlikely that another school would be able to provide me such an experience.  After the long drive back to Michigan and a few days of misery, I eventually called the PC and accepted everything - the invitation to join the graduate school at Clemson and the scholarship.  Such a happy moment for me!