Please note, this post was originally published on October 2, 2014 on my old blog Meghan Cantwell. Writer. on Wordpress.
WARNING: This post contains the following: hindsight (it’s a bitch); a small dose of regret; and an extreme helping of unsolicited advice aimed at people who already know everything, thank you very much. I am attending George Mason University pursuing the M.A. in English with a Literature concentration. I love the program and the school. I love the English Department so much that I decided to add a secondary graduate certificate in Professional Writing & Rhetoric (PWR). Taking both types of classes, I have to say, has been the most positive experience I could have hoped for. I have learned with this Department that the more you put into it, the more you get out of it–and that is a truly beautiful thing. That being said, I now find myself in an administrative pickle, and want to post my story as a sort of cautionary tale to any other intrepid early graduate students who are plotting their course through their program and may not recognize the pitfalls until too late. It boils down to something we have all heard before, but that I did not apply to my situation: READ THE FINE PRINT. My goals when I entered the program were pretty straightforward: Get my degree in Literature; write something publishable; get out of the program a.s.a.p. and move onto a great PhD program. The lovely people I spoke with when being admitted to the graduate program told me that in order to do this I would need to read the fine print, and I thought I had. I read up on certain requirements; such as the rules for applying to graduate, the time limit to the program, and everything else I thought I would need to complete my degree in the shortest time possible. And, in truth, the research I had done on the classes in the Literature concentration did serve me well. And had I not decided rather late in my course of study to add the PWR certificate, I would have graduate in exactly two years. I took an inspiring class in the PWR program that showed me I could be a professional writer NOW and use those skills to my advantage further down the line when applying to PhD programs. I decided then and there to add the certificate. Great. I got the forms signed by the director of the PWR program, put the forms in my bag…and promptly plagued myself with doubts about whether or not I really wanted to add another semester to my program. I wrestled with those questions, going back and forth, for the rest of the semester. That was in the Spring of 2014. Come Fall 2014, I still hadn’t turned in the application forms for the certificate program. And, for all the reading I did about the great classes I could take for the certificate, I forgot the golden rule and I didn’t READ THE FINE PRINT. Instead, I spoke with the head of the PWR program again, and spoke with the graduate coordinator, and spoke with the professor who would teach my Capstone project course and decided I was going to go all in, just like I had wanted to in the Spring of 2014. Final decision was made. I felt great. I applied to the certificate program-no problem there. I learned that I would need to take two required classes the next Spring to graduate by Fall 2015. Also no problem…until the class schedule was posted for Spring 2015. Both of the classes I needed (not wanted), Needed to take in the Spring of 2015 were scheduled for exactly the same time slot. Here is the fine print I should have read back in the Spring of 2014 when I first decided that the PWR certificate was of interest to me: The PWR and LIT programs both have certain classes that are: (1) required to get the degree/certificate; and (2) are only offered once a year (for anyone just tuning in, that’s the Spring semester). The two classes I needed that were scheduled at exactly the same time, were two such classes. This is a worst case scenario that I could have avoided had I done more research earlier in my course of study. Now I find myself doggy-paddling towards the shore I should be hurtling towards in a freestyle stroke. All of the information I needed was available to me. When I was debating whether or not to add on another semester, I should have been concerned with the FINE PRINTthat could have guided me to the right decision sooner. Instead here I am, enrolled in two awesome programs that will help me reach new heights in my career; but due to my poor planning will also delay my career plans by at least one year. That’s my cautionary tale. I hope it helps someone. I realize now that this post marks the first in what will probably be a whole slew of “hindsight” stories I will come to tell in my life. To quote Blink 182: “I guess this is growing up.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI use this blog to record my thoughts on my life in Kanagawa, Japan, continuing creative projects, and career as a professional writer. ArchivesCategories© Meghan Tompkins and Meghan Tompkins.Writer., 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Meghan Tompkins and Meghan Tompkins.Writer. with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
|