Batting .333 ain't bad
Months of waiting came to a quick closure today. Within the space of a couple of hours, I found out that both external fellowships I applied for (one from the National Science Foundation and the other from the Department of Education) had chosen other, and doubtless better qualified, candidates. Still, I do have a fellowship offer from the U of M Grad School for three years, which isn't bad.
And so now it's time to decide, which is the really hard part. I've had some time to think this over, but going from 90% to 100% certain on a change like this isn't easy. I've been a composition instructor for nine years, and at this point I have a fairly comfortable niche for myself. To leave that behind for being a student again, acquiring a substantial amount of debt, and not knowing what life will look like on the other end of all of it requires some courage and faith. I hope to make the decision this weekend--I'm using a recruiting weekend by the Geography Dept. as a deadline. At this point, I can't see any reason to say no, unless for some reason the financial offer falls through. But I'll have to sit down and burn a candle or something to make it official.