This is another cross-posting from my Portfolio class from the Fall term. I have edited it a bit to bring it up to date.


Taking a deep breath after graduation.

Hard to believe that my baccalaureate career is over, and I have some tough decisions to make about where to go next. I've begun applications to 2 universities: Florida State University and USF-Tampa.

I have a short list of schools that I would like to attend, but I need to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and take some time off to save up for application fees and collect the needed documents to submit with applications. Some schools are on my shortlist, even though they are far away from Florida and moving out of state scares the crap out of me, simply because they are either fully funded, do not require the GRE, or both. 

My Top 5 Shortlist for Grad Schools:

1. Florida State University
   • Although I'm not sure if they are fully funded or not, they do offer some form of assistance, either with TA's or other forms of scholarships, working opportunities. The reason I am so hung up on FSU, despite the way I feel about their logo that's offensive to Native Americans, is that in addition to having a MFA in Creative Writing, they also have a PhD in Creative Writing, and (here's where I go squee inside) a certificate in Editing and Publishing.
     
2. USF-Tampa
   • Getting into FSU might be hard, it's the #1 MFA school in the state. In case they reject me, USF-Tampa is my backup. Their MFA in Creative Writing is fairly new. How much funding they'll give is something I need to look into. That will be a priority real soon. 
3. University of Florida
   • Fully funded. A little more expensive to live here than in Tally, but not much more so.
4. Virginia Commonwealth University
   • Fully funded with health insurance. A smaller, easier to navigate campus in the heart of a mid-size, very hip and happening city in the midwest. Private, off-campus housing on and off the campus main drag, close to everything. The former home of one of America's greatest fiction authors (IMHO), Edgar Allan Poe. 
5. University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop:
   • It's the mother-effing Iowa Writers' Workshop, continually the #1 MFA program in the country. I have to apply, just to see if I can get in there. 

There are others on the list, but these 5 are in my radar. 

Yes, I know that I have not blogged anything for nine months. If you are one of my faithful readers, I am sorry. Most of you know the reasons, however, I think it is time I start blogging again on this site and I shall begin with telling you all about the past year and how it ended for me. 

The best way I can describe 2015 is to say it started with a painful whimper, but ended with a triumphant Whoohoo! (at least academically). 

Finances were the core issue for me in 2015, and the cause of whimpers both in my personal and academic lives. I lived through the roughest months I’d experienced since my mom and hubby passed away, back to back, fifteen years ago. Due to a technical glitch, I was awarded a scholarship that wasn’t due me because I was no longer a member of the Honors College at school. I was facing not being able to register for the Fall semester unless I could clear it up. And I had no money.

I was burned out and just not mentally up to my usual good work in class. I am lucky I got through the semester with two A’s and two B+ grades. Everything fell to ruin those first few months of 2015. I was only working 5 hours a week and behind in all my bills. I searched and applied relentlessly for a second job, interviewed for many positions, but there was no joy. I got a little depressed, to say the least. 

Then, some miraculous and strange things occurred.  It was as if Mistress Fate had twisted her magic wand in my direction. 

First, a friend told me I should check out a crowdsource funding site, like Go Fund Me, to see if friends or acquaintances in the social media world would help me to pay off my school debt so I could register for the Fall semester, the only term left to complete my bachelor’s degree. I worried that it would come to nothing. And my pride is such that I have a hard time asking for help from even my closest friends. I didn’t think that my online friends would themselves be in any position to just give me money to help me. I was wrong. I swallowed my pride and made a Go Fund Me account and my online writer friends jumped to help. They donated and shared the link. They shared the link when they could not donate. They not only helped me meet the $500 debt I owed to the university, but the donations exceeded it to the point I was able to put the remainder toward getting the tablet  I needed to be my light note-taking and writing device for two of my three final classes. 

As for the second job, a non-profit company that I had a great interview with in March and never called me back right away…did call me back at the end of June to offer me another position, that of overall traffic coordinator for PBS and NPR throughout the state of Florida. I accepted it and this position has been both an incredible challenge and a dream job for me.

I started the year depressed, depleted, and anxious over money and school. I ended it with a great job and a diploma.

See that picture below. That’s me on the left end, smiling with my friends. 

2015. Hard, but worth every minute of it. 

I want to say a great big Thank You to all my friends, writer nakama, USFSP professors, and other kind people who helped me during the hard first half of the year with money or with words of encouragement. You all know who you are and I would not be where I am today without you.  

Thank you, too, Mistress Fate. 
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