Monday, February 18, 2008

Meta-life

I really ought to write a long post about how we were locked out of our own computer for three days last week, and that's why I haven't posted in so long. I ought to talk about the knitting I've been doing, both my successes (I made a scarf for Lydia from a pattern given to me by Sarah, and I've finished one slipper from the same book) and failures (I spent an entire day last week working on baby booties that in the end only existed as a small, sad pile of unraveled wool). I ought to talk about Lydia, who will be two in less than two weeks, and whose vocabulary grows every day, loves to help cook, especially things with flour in them, almost as she loves to help clean; not pick up, clean. As in she'll take any old spray can, in this case our spray cooking oil, and take it around the house with some fabric piece of something, and then proceed to "spray" (thankfully she's not strong enough to actually depress the nozzle), and wipe the whole house down, including myself or Avram, if we are in her path.

Instead I'm just going to briefly talk about applications. Because as great as all of the previous posts would be, I'm not obsessed with them as much as I am with my future. Now, I have no more news than I did at my last posting. I can't tell if this means that both schools that accepted Avram don't want to fund him at all, or if they simply haven't decided yet. For that matter, we haven't actually received an official letter from either school, with official information, offer, etc.

For Wisc we received an email from the department merely saying he was in, and then a follow up physical letter with said letter printed out, along with four pages of outside reading to be done in the next four years (along with four books to read this summer). Including in this reading, they want you to have preferably read the entire Old Testament in Hebrew to get your Doctorate. Now, this is quite a task, but I like it. It makes me feel like the department is rigorous, and I like rigor. Especially since it will be Avram doing the reading. But nada on funding.

For Ohio state we haven't even that; all that's happened is his status on the website has changed to tell him that he's been admitted, and will receive a letter in the mail. That's it. If we weren't such diligent checkers, we wouldn't even know.

So what does this all mean? We found out for both schools early in the admittance process, which would argue good things for Avram's chances of funding, but then not mentioning anything, that doesn't argue such good things. Or do they just not know themselves, yet? Argh, these are all very pointless wonderings, but I keep on going over these questions in my head. So now all my dear readers are as un-enlightened as we are.

3 comments:

  1. As far as funding goes, Madison told me they wouldn't be able to offer me anything until at least March because they have to work with the graduate school. I understand that it's trickier for state schools and funding because they are at the mercy of the whims of their state legislature, and that's why it can take longer for offers. I haven't heard anything for sure on funding except from the private school I applied to. Also, I just got my official acceptance from the Madison graduate school in mail on Saturday, so yours could still be on its way. (That was kind-of long, but I hope it helps).

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  2. That does make me feel better; we actually got the "official" acceptance today from Madison (although still no funding). Knowing that they won't know until March gives me a lot of hope.

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  3. Glad to have you back. We missed you. At least all of this school distraction is making your pregnancy go faster. We were talking to some new senior missionaries who had just arrived here. They said they needed to find housing and then they can get on with their work. That is the way I feel about going home. At least I know what metropolitan area I'll be in.

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