Decisions Decided
I'd like to recap the last year, at least with respect to my career. Before moving into this house with my roommate, we sat down and I plotted out my life. Full timeline on paper kinda situation. We were at a Hoolihan's restaurant, it made sense after a couple of beers. The plan involved me keeping my current job for around 2 years and then quitting to go to graduate school. The genius in this scenario is that I'd get to do one of the things I'd been dreaming about for some time: A three month trip to Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Thailand, Angkor Wat, Nepal, Bhutan, possibly Korea, maybe fly back around-the-world via Dubai or Turkey or even Africa. I was gonna spend a whole pile of money. Then get back and go to grad school refreshed, tanned, with a new take on life.
>>Fast Forward>> Approximately 6 months ago the effects of the current administration's budget choices started to hit home. The funding cuts from the NIH directly affected the grant situation in the lab and money got tight. I sat down with the boss and discussed how to cut the budget, and how to save money through attrition of staff. Although he assured me that my job was not in jeopardy, the writing was on the wall. So, the graduate school application tango began for me soon after.
I took the GRE. I asked for recommendation letters. I filled out applications. I did some serious soul searching. I applied to one school in San Francisco and five schools in New York City. I went to four interviews, all in NYC. Three of those schools offered me admission. Decision time. Choices were narrowed down to two almost immediately, but the end choice was difficult. Both schools are very strong programs, and either choice would be a good one.
The one piece of advice that was given to me multiple times along the way was, "Go with your gut, and you'll be fine." The whole time my gut was telling me the same thing, but I had to go weigh all the options. The bottom line is that I'll be attending a very well known institution specializing in cancer research. I'm moving to the UES of Manhattan sometime in mid-July.
Holy Guacamole!