With Some Good Red Wine and My Brand New Shoes...

Hardcore came and visited me on Thursday evening and we spent the night at the Cabin drinking and singing karaoke with a handful of my fellow GTA's. We had lunch on Friday at the Pixie (cause you can't come to Mt. Pleasant and not have the Pixie) and then he left to go up to the Sault. Chelsea, Katie and I headed to Midland after he left to go shopping at the mall (I was in need of a purple bra for the monologues, a short sleeved white turtleneck for myself, and anything else that might happen to catch my eye...). We had a lovely afternoon and I was very excited at the prospects of a nap as we were driving back to Mt. Pleasant. We got home and, of course, I checked my facebook, e-mail, etc., all of the important stuff. ha. As I was perusing my cmich e-mail account I saw one that had "OSU School of Communication" in the subect title. The first thing that came to mind was that it was a confirmation e-mail that they had received (or had not received) all of my materials for application. I opened it and began reading:

Hi Katie,

I'm Chip Eveland, the Director of Graduate Studies for the School of Communication at OSU. That means that I chair the graduate admissions committee for the School. I'm writing to let you know that we've had the opportunity to review your file, and we are excited about the prospects of you joining our PhD program come the fall. You will receive a formal (and form) letter from us early next week informing you not only of your admission, but also of the graduate assistantship funding package that we will be offering you. You'll also be hearing from me again soon to see if you will be able to join us on April 2nd and 3rd for our Visitation Day, in which we will have an opportunity for you to meet our faculty and graduate students, as well as tour our campus and research facilities. This is an important opportunity for you to come and discuss your interests with our faculty and make sure that your interests and goals fit well with the nature of our program and our faculty. We can put you up in a hotel the evening of April 2, and will cover dinner that night plus breakfast and lunch on Friday. We can also help support your travel here through reimbursement.Anyhow, I wanted to write specifically to answer any initial questions you may have about our program, the funding offer, or the Visitation Day. I look forward to talking with you soon...chip--
Dr. William "Chip" Eveland
Professor of Communication and Political Science
Director of Graduate Studies, School of Communication
3139 Derby Hall
Columbus, OH


Needless to say, I had to re-read the 3rd through 6th line a few times before I comprehended (and I'm still not sure that I do) what it said. I ran out into the living room where Chelsea sat on the couch and showed it to her. I was speechless, she didn't say much either, but I think that was just a lack of caring. She told me congrats and I ran back to my room with my laptop. I called my parents. My dad answered, I told him that he needed to go find mom and put it on speaker phone. He said she was asleep and I told him that he needed to wake her up, that she'd want to be woken up for this. I told them then. My mom hadn't heard it all completely, so I had only told my Dad, he said way to go, or something like that, but with less enthusiasm than I was expecting. Such is my father. He handed the phone to my mom and I told her the same news, reading her the first portion of the e-mail. Hers was the response I was waiting for. She was very excited for me and so proud. I could hear it in her voice. I spoke with her for a few minutes and then told her that I wanted to call Kerry. I hung up and pressed "3" and then send. It rang and rang and went to voicemail! How could she not answer!!! I left her an urgent voicemail telling her to call me back immediately! I waited 3 minutes and tried again. It seemed like an eternity having to wait a few minutes to call her back. Again, the phone rang and went to voicemail. I left her another message, more impatient than the first. She finally called me back and I about exploded. My sister finally got the entire response I was looking for. She mimicked my intensity and excitement, just like I knew she would! We talked for a while and then I finally got off the phone with her. I then started calling other family and friends. I mostly left voicemails for people.

I still can't believe it. Ohio State University. The one school that posted an actual GRE score expectation (that I was under by 70 points) and they're the school to accept me in 2 weeks. The application that wasn't due until Jan. 15th, and here they are, sending me an e-mail accepting me into their program on the 30th. Ohio State, the one program that I was applying to just for shits and giggles, that I never in a million years dreamed would even look at my application after they saw my GRE score. Crazy how life works.

I'm shocked. I'm in awe. I'm reeling from the idea that no matter what happens now, even if I get into the other 4 programs, or if I don't, I still can get my PhD, and at one of the more prestigious schools I applied to. I still don't feel like this is real. I feel like this is all just a dream. I know that I've put in the time and the effort to get to this point, but I never actually thought this would happen. Even Friday, right before I got the e-mail, I still would have told you it would be a miracle to be accepted by just one of the programs. I honestly wasn't expecting to get in anywhere. I don't know why, but after what happened with Pete last year, I thought that it was a long shot in hell for me to get into a PhD program.

But here I am, a prospective Buckeye. I'm still in disbelief.



... Gonna Dance A Blue Streak Around The Living Room