what the fuck am i getting myself into with this grad school stuff

Sorry, my bad. It's perhaps a little earlier than that.

WELL JEEZ

I know. It's as if I should be in a class learning how to figure this out.

that is pretty awesome.

yeh. at least the stuff i'm toiling over ... or, rather, meant to be toiling over but not actually reading because, y'know, it's the weekend and really, i'm just going to get up early on monday morning and FUCKING BLITZ IT is in english.

at least, it claims to be.

also, this:

took only four weeks to go from bushy-eyed optimism to "wtf i am not cut out for this shit"

is kinda OTM. although with me it was two weeks to go from "rock! masters here i come" to "fuuuuuuuuuucking HELL there are not enough hours in the day for this".

It's way more fun when it's not in English, though!

^NOT!^

I'm in my second and final year now, but for some reason this semester is waaaay more of a pain in the ass than the previous two, even though on paper it seems like it should be about the same.

^^^this!!!!!!!

on paper this should be easier!!!!! is not!!!!!!!

I have been accepted into Carnegie Mellon. Holy crap I have a so much to do to make myself able to move in january?

Anyone want to rent a very nice central London apartment?

WOOT!

nice one, ed!

Holy shit I only just read below the fold in the email (damned blackberry) and I have a $9000 partial scolarship.

WOOT!!!! That will go far in Pittsburg. You could probably buy a house for that out there.

Holy shit indeed! At all of the following:

That acceptance now comes via the intertubes and not via snails.
$9K!

Pittsburgh rentals are even cheaper than Minneapolis ones AFAIK.

about $600 for a big 1 bedroom with full livingroom and a study knook.

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/images/00007R-54.jpeg

(congratulations, ed)

caek, is real letter?

xpost as long as you keep the LR and kitchen separate, WINNAH.

yes, it's real (but I was not the recipient): http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00007Q

that is how they roll

ed, what are you going there to study?

Engineering, Technology and Innovation Management a very interdisciplinary MS.

Two years?

1 year with a a summer internship, kind of wish it was 2 given the economic climate.

haha yes a lot of my peers from undergrad days have emailed me asking me if they should come back to uni to ride out the storm. good luck with the move and the school.

and congrats on the scholarship. presumably you don't have to pay fees with that $9k?

hahaha, no the $9 is offset against the $44k in fees so my fees will be a mere $35k.

good grief.

I wish you the very best in all things, but I honestly cannot imagine paying to go to grad school. (Unless this is one of those professional qualifications that will double your salary.)

It enables me to jump out of this dead end career and into something more lucrative, yes. Also I have not explored other avenues of financial aid yet (couldn't in most cases till I had an offer)

ah, all is well.

I have seen far worse episodes of this comic:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd092908s.gif

so i suppose i should be getting used to these four-hour sleep sessions (not really going to call it "going to bed" anymore)

caek why is letter dated 2000 for class of 2005?

"class of xxxx" means xxxx is the year you're due to finish in the U.S. and an undergrad degree takes four years by default.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh gotcha

of about four and a half hours' study so far today, around a third of it was reading some of the most appallingly badly presented, impenetrable and WTF-am-i-meant-to-take-this-seriously? bollocks i've ever come across. i ain't putting up with two years of this nonsense, that's for certain :(

Why do you think I left!

i'd say i'm looking forward to sleeping in the library again but i actually don't know if i'm getting any sleep tonight!

Rrowr!

Surviving?

1 more month!! sort of.

ok not really.

Yay tza!

Could those of you in school say why you chose what you're studying and if it's working for you so far?

well, i was right

i've never given a presentation on more than 24 hours w/o sleep before, stoked to see how it's gonna go!! :D

i have - you'll be brilliant!

i am studying performing arts management (most people have no idea what this is) - basically i have learned every aspect of running an arts organization (development, marketing, p.r., general management (commercial and not-for-profit), labor relations, entertainment law, finance, etc.). i feel very knowledgeable and secure in my skills as a leader, but it's a difficult field to break into and, in the end, generally more about who you know than what you know. my professional network has grown exponentially in the past 2 years. i would not have my current job if not for connections made from this program, but i'm still not at the job level i was told i'd be at this point in the program when i initially interviewed with my adviser. part of this is because of the economy, part of this is because i think my adviser is overly optimistic (though in the past, people at my stage in the program have had better jobs). regardless, i make less money now than i did before i entered grad school (but that was not a job in this field), but i like the direction i'm heading and feel like once my thesis is done, i could apply my knowledge to other industries (not that i necessarily want to). basically the "is it working?" question is a very, very difficult one to answer!

the economy sucks for the arts right now, also for everything

yes, i am aware of this.