Graduate School Opportunities!

Caitlin H.

February 8, 2010 - 2:19 PM

Today has been a big day for me. I've seen a lot of friends on campus, the sun has been out which seems to have refreshed my spirit, I've been trying to make progress within my overwhelming mountain of tasks to do, I picked up my certificate and official membership pin for Gamma Theta Upsilon which I was inducted into last term...and I made a very important phone call.

Before December came to a close, I received an email from Michigan State University acknowledging that all materials for my application to the masters program in Urban and Regional Planning had been received. Once an admission recommendation had been made I would be contacted via email and could expect that to be around mid to late January. February 5th, 6th, 7th rolled around and I still hadn't heard anything. I couldn't decide what to do. On the one hand, I hadn't been denied, so that was good news, but I hadn't been accepted yet either. I wanted to contact someone and ask what was going on. However, while wanting to appear passionate and like this decision was important to me, I also didn't want to be "that" student, calling to bug the MSU people on the phone nagging them with questions.

I called Michigan State today. I received an answer.

When I called I really wasn't expecting an admissions recommendation over the phone. I was asking for a new date that I could expect to hear by. I understand these things take time and I was willing to be patient a little longer, but I was seeking confirmation that decisions hadn't already been submitted and somehow I missed the memo. I have been religiously checking my email for weeks hoping to have received the email that would be my first feedback from the three applications for graduate study I submitted. Instead of giving me a new timeline I could hope to hear by, the person on the other end of the phone decided to just look up my information.

My stomach dropped. I wasn't prepared for THIS! They asked for my name, and out of my embarrassment, the program I had applied to. I felt awkward and uncomfortable; I couldn't remember the official title of the program in the moment! I have been looking at so many similar but different programs over the last few months, the official titles have all blurred together. I explained my discomfort and that it would be the program related to Urban Planning. That was enough, and I could hear the person on the other end of the line entering my information into the computer. I was waiting on the phone anxiously trying to figure out what to say after they told me whatever decision had been made. If I had been denied should I just say thank you and hang up? If I was accepted should I say thank you and hang up? How excited should I sound, or disappointed, or should I remain neutral? The funny thing is, I was more nervous about how to appropriately respond to the news then the actual news itself.

And then the person on the phone began to speak. I forgot all the words I had been searching for to offer in response and hung on every word that was relayed through the phone. Michigan State University was recommending that I be accepted for admission into the Masters program in Urban and Regional Planning! They said yes!

What exciting news! I have been officially accepted to one of the graduate programs I applied to! It feels good to say it. And in the crazy, mixed-up stressful week I'm having, it is welcomed good news. It turns out my response to the news flowed quite naturally and I was able to thank the person on the phone and wish them a pleasant afternoon without embarrassing myself too much.

I still have two more graduate programs to hear back from, one at UCLA and one here at the University of Oregon. I don't expect to receive an admissions decision from either of those programs until March. In the meantime I can relish in the delight that at least one school said yes. I can remind myself as I nervously hope I am admitted to the UO and UCLA programs that I was at least accepted to MSU.

Success! Today it feels good to be a Duck. I'm one step closer to earning the Master's Degree I hope to and excited about it!