It's Official-ish!!!!

I’m a student again. Kind of, more on this in a minute. It all happened really fast, in fact, with little planning and absolutely no forethought- definitely out of my norm and character. That’s when the best decisions are made, right?! (Said with much hesitation, confusion, and maybe even a hint of fear in my voice). Here’s the story.

I get these slightly annoying news articles at work. Most of the time I don’t have time to read them but I scan them to make sure that one of my projects didn’t end up on the front page of the Dallas Morning news or the Star Telegram. One day sometime late July, in my scanning I noticed there was a new program at the University of Texas @ Arlington in Urban Planning and Policy with an emphasis in Sustainability. This excited me, finally a degree that ACTUALLY applies to what I’m doing for a living. Novel idea.

I called the University and left a message. The lady called back informing me that the dude responsible for the PhD program would more than likely be calling me to coerce me into that program instead since I already had one Masters. I mean, who needs two of those silly pieces of paper that say Master of something or other, right?! It only makes since to get a PhD. I obviously became impatient and couldn’t wait for him to call and coerce me- so I called him. I had a ton of questions.

Now back to this being a student thing...

I submitted my application to the PhD program (it didn’t take much coercing) sometime early August. I have yet to hear anything about my application status, however, was expected to start class on August 28th. Seems a bit back asswards to me. So, since my brain gets stuck in one way of thinking I didn’t go to class on the first day (seemed completely logical to me). Who knew you could actually attend a University you haven’t been accepted to and actually go to a class you haven’t registered for and also have no idea how you’re going to pay for. It’s like I get to take the class first and then decide if I want to pay for it after. And bonus….the program comes complete with my very own iPad. I’d never admit this to anyone BUT that may be what helped me make my decision. ;) ;)

There you have it- I’m back in school, kind of. I’m officially giving up the next two years of my life to slave away towards something that no one in my family has so far been able to achieve. I’m finally headed towards accomplishing a number of my dreams. It’s definitely a big mix of emotions...I kind of feel like I’m skydiving and am hoping to pick up my parachute part of the way down.