Grad School Meeting

written: July 10th

I leave in a half hour for my meeting at the University of North Texas.  Yeah, the familiar panic is just starting to set in.  And I hate that.  I hate that I get panicky about going somewhere new, talking to someone new, doing something new.  I get the tightness in my chest, the shortness of breath, the shakes in my hands, and my mind start looping through what all could go wrong...or how I'm going to offend the person I'm meeting with.  And it doesn't matter how I rationally explain to my brain that it doesn't do any good to get all worked up. We are going and it's going to be fine so just chill the fuck out.  And then my brain is all like "well what if....."  ::sighs::  Hate this.

Well, I just got back from the meeting and it was GREAT.  Traffic was an utter bitch on I-35, but what's new?  It is only going to get worse for the next few years as they do all the construction.  But, in about ten years, it is going to be SWEET!  Or at least, I hope it ONLY takes ten years.  That seems to be the standard for Texas road construction.

And I did get a bit turned around in the building, trying to figure out where the College of Information was located, but a nice guy in the College of Engineering helped direct me.  All in all, I was only a few minutes late (which, surprisingly did not induce panic/anxiety in me -- it is usually a HUGE trigger for me).

I sat down with Ms. Hall and we discussed everything about the program over the next half hour.

The best news?  I do NOT have to take the GRE exam!  Talk about a HUGE weight off of my shoulders.  I was not looking forward to this exam -- think, the ACT/SAT exam on steroids!  That is a lot of time and MONEY back in my pocket.  Woohoo! 

And we discussed my not-so-stellar undergrad overall GPA, but I can petition that the Board looks at my last six semesters' GPA instead.  We are talking an overall GPA of 2.7...or the last six semesters' lowest GPA was a 3.25 -- so yeah, I will certainly be petitioning they to look at the last six semesters.  ::chuckles::  So there is HOPE for me after all.

All in all, I am looking at 36 hours for the degree and then a Practicum of 120 hours in an actual library.  The Practicum has to be completed in one semester, so honestly, that isn't too terrible.  I won't be working at Starbucks, so hopefully I could get hired on for the Practicum at the local public library and bang those hours out in the morning and then go to work at my after school program.

There are a few scholarships for the Librarian/Informational Sciences Master's program that I will certainly apply for.  And then to qualify for financial aid, I do have to take a minimum of six grad hours -- two courses.  That shouldn't be too terrible.

So I came away from the meeting with a better understanding of what the degree program is going to entail, thrilled that I don't have to take the dreaded GRE, and rather hopeful and excited about taking this next step.

Onwards and upwards!