It's been too long

be contented with what you possess in life;

be thankful for what does not belong to you,

for it is so much care the less;

but try to obtain what you need in life,

and make the best of every moment of your life.

Hazrat Inayat Khan
Gayan

Oh, what a week. Busy, but relieving and quickly passing. Last Saturday, I sat in a nondescript, shady and dated room on the first floor of LSU's Himes Hall. In one of its six or seven carrels, I took the GRE for roughly 4 hours--the tutorial for using the computer program, the two tasks of the analytical writing section, the verbal and the quantitative sections, and finally an experimental writing portion. I received my scores for the verbal and quantitative sections immediately after, and I'm happy to report that I scored high enough to get into the programs I wish to apply for! (Hopefully, they'll pull more weight than my GPA) I am still awaiting the scores from the analytical writing portion, as they require human scoring. Pretty much throughout the entire test, I felt varying levels of anxiety, uncertainty, and ignorance--especially with the vocabulary of the verbal section (specifically antonyms and analogies) and some of that math, but in the end, my studying paid off. I did pretty well, but I still think I'd like to try to take it once more--this time allowing myself more time reviewing each concept and focusing on vocabulary. I think I probably scored a 5 or 6 on each writing task, and both are out of 6. Part of the reason I'm going to try to increase my score is, at Tulane, for example, people who receive funding, on average, score higher than I did. So while my score in high enough to be accepted, I could have a hard time securing money. And, I can't afford to go to any school without substantial financial aid. Secondly, though I have to check with each of the programs on whether they average the tests' scores (if you take it multiple times) or if it just takes the highest, I think going in, more confident and in the know about how the test is from my experience, I can only do better! 

So on to programs. Unfortunately, I wasn't so on the ball about deadlines, and I missed the application deadline for UT-Austin. It was December 1st and it explicitly reads on the anthropology department webpage that no incomplete or late applications will be considered; I even called them before reading this to confirm what I read on another page was correct. Unlucky for me, they don't admit in the Spring semester either, so if I really wanted to go there, I'd have to plan on working another year (probably and maybe hopefully not at McGehee) and applying next fall for the Fall 2011 year. It's too bad, but I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket. I'm going to apply to The New School, Tulane (and maybe Berkley at the advice of Dr. Henne and maybe University of Chicago) and I'll see if I get in. Depending on what happens, maybe UT-Austin will have to be the path I take; Dr. Henne says that it's an outstanding program. But, I think all the ones I'm applying for are quite strong. I met with him yesterday to discuss applying and my scores. He is helping me, writing my recommendation and really encouraging. I'm so lucky that I happen to take his Spanish 200 class two years ago (and that I took Intensive Conversation last Spring) and that I went to Guatemala (with his push) for that matter. In any case, he told me that I should really be thinking up proposals because in these applications, I'll be asked to write essays on what it is I want to do and study should I be accepted. He also said that I should consider that I am also interviewing these schools so I should contact departments and professors--which I had planned to do, but somewhat intimidated. Anyhow, it also looks like I'll be applying for both the Latin American Studies program and the Anthropology one at Tulane--again, on Dr. Henne's advice because my concentration would be on the other depending on which program I get into, and I could get into one and not the other. Dr. Henne believes that the Anthro one is more competitive. I need to do more research (which I plan to do over the holiday; McGehee gets two weeks off) and actually contact people and sit in on grad classes. I also need to decide who I'll ask to write my other two recommendations. I may ask Dr. Zucker, my former major advisor, since he knows my story quite well; maybe he can better explain my semesters of nonattendance and Fs. And, maybe I'll ask Dr. White or Dr. O'Gorman since they've both offered repeatedly. Dr. O'Gorman knows me better, but Dr. White is the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs (who has never actually had me as a student). I always said I'd ask Dr. Smith to write a recommendation, but I haven't talked to him in forever, and he retired. So much to decide. Anyhow, that's where I stand on grad school-shopping. I'll be taking another week off of studying, but after McGehee is over for the semester, I plan on throwing myself into studying, applying and enjoying family, friends and festivities. Yes, all three can be done! I'm just going spread out the time it takes to work on the first two.

Well, I'll update again soon. This time, on other things going on in my life.

Hope everyone's doing well!