I got in!

I was accepted to the Master’s program I applied for. It starts next month (because I’m too impatient to apply for programs that don’t start until Fall semester).  I’ll be taking one class at a time. I’ve applied for several scholarships. I have enough in savings/investments to cover the entire tuition and fees for the program, but a scholarship or two would sure be nice (why pay more than necessary for school?).  I don’t expect to be awarded enough to cover the entire amount of tuition for the 2 year program. I may have a paid internship possibility on the horizon for the end of the program, that was the opportunity I mentioned vaguely in the previous post. It’s not a sure thing, but if it does happen, I’d need to be in a Master’s before I could do it, so here we go!  I’m not sure if I’d need to have completed the bulk of it first or not (timing may vary and such).

I’m also teaching a literature course beginning in late February. I’m a little worried that I’m taking on too much. I’m reading the literature for the course now. The larger, meatier text is one of those well-known, classics of literature that “everyone has read” by a beloved-by-all famous rich dead white guy, you know, one of those! I’ve never read it before now. I’ve lied and said I’ve read it before (because when you’re a book nerd, there are books you’re expected by everyone to have read and enjoyed). So I’m reading a heavily annotated version that has an insane amount of extra information. I’d never recommend the edition I’m reading to anyone who wants to read the thing for fun. I’m finding it perfect for my purposes. It’s one of those authors that I’ve really never cared for overall–he wrote some good stuff, but nothing that would make a “favorites” list for me personally. Anyway, I now know more about his life and times than I ever cared to know and more about references to other things in the work than I’ve ever cared to know. I think this is setting me up well to teach the book. I’ll read it through a second time before going into the class (maybe without the annotations) just for good measure because an instructor on this thing really should have read it more than once. The more comfortable I am with the material, the better. And I plan on listening to an audio edition too (this I can definitely do whether I reread the thing or not).

So, I’m taking on a lot at once. I’m starting grad school early next month, then continuing grad school while teaching a lit class. One of those on its own would be a lot to add to my life. I really want to make it work though. I’m trying to optimize my routines, schedule, and habits to allow myself to be as successful as possible. One motivating factor is that my income will increase a bunch when I start teaching that class. This will help even more with paying for grad school (just because I can pay for it out of savings doesn’t mean I’m eager to drain that much of my savings).

I really, really hope I can pull off working full-time and grad school simultaneously. I’m only taking one class at a  time and it’s an entirely online program so I don’t have travel time to class to figure in.

Anyway, I have to go officially register for my first class now and then read some more of the book I’m teaching soon!

Take care all. Have a beautiful day.

-Apexbloom