Graduate School

So I've been keeping a big secret from you all...

Story goes...

Back when I was living in Benin and about to return home I was looking for jobs in the outdoor education field. I found quite a few but wasn't able to take any of them because they weren't hiring mid season. This is pretty typical for seasonal jobs. They usually do a big hire pre-season and they don't generally bring other people on half way through the season. I did however come across an outdoor education center located in Wisconsin.

I looked and looked for an employment section. This place didn't have an employment section. I wondered how they hired people to work for them if there wasn't an employment section. Generally speaking all hiring is done online because potential employees are scattered throughout the country.

I was going to find out the mystery of this place. Mostly because I was in Cotonou and after 3 days all the fun things to do in Cotonou had already been done. I found that the people who worked at this facility were actually graduate students. They were going to school for a masters in Residential Experiential Education. I then checked out the program, for fun. After reading about the program I got really excited.

Until this point I hadn't thought going back to graduate school unlike many of the volunteers in my group who had taken the GREs in Ghana and applied online using Benin's unstable at best internet. In fact when I finished my undergrad I said that I wasn't going to go back to school. That was it, a bachelors was all I was ever going to need. Two years out of school and being around people who are applying to graduate school changes your perspective on going back. I quickly found myself on the application page.

When I got back to Vermont I started studying for the GREs. I took them in February and started looking again at the application. I had missed the deadline. I shrugged, oh well. Yes if I had been more on my game maybe it could have happened, but I would just apply again next year. Then I found out that the college only accepted students every other year. I was going to have to wait two years. I then looked at other job opportunities. Maybe grad school wasn't going to work out. I looked at some other graduate programs and found that the original program is really what I wanted. I put it out of my mind, it wasn't worth thinking about for another two years. At least I had taken the GREs.

I drifted around from state to state. I had a blast and lived the quote 'Not all who wander are lost' (J.R. Tolkien). Vermont to California to Wyoming to New Hampshire to Vermont to Alaska back to New Hampshire and ending up back in Vermont. I met so many great friends and did some amazing things! I gained significant experience in my field and learned so much. I wouldn't change it for the world.

About a year and half later my mom suggested I take a look at the program again. She had looked it up again after finding a link, I'm sure buried deep within some email. She reminded me of how interested I was in the program and encouraged me to apply now that I had the time to give the application it needed. After having the mind set of packing up and leaving and doing something for three months at a time my mind was hard wired to decline any offers for longer than 6 months. This was for two years, including a summer semester. I figured I could apply and let that sink in later. I worked hard on the application, changing my essays, re-answering questions, grammar and spell check... I could have been doing this process forever! But time was running out.

I applied and filled out my application and my friend had to go with me to the post office to keep me honest about mailing it. I kissed it goodbye and a weight was lifted off my shoulders. It was too late now. The wheels were turning, and it was up to the universe to decide.

Moral of the story: After two years of hoping and thinking about it I got in! I'm leaving this summer for the north woods of Wisconsin to attend graduate school!!