Photoessay #1175 - Grad school

I am involved with grad school. With two of my daughters. Ilana's at the Information School at University of Michigan. She didn't mean to go there, she wanted to go to Washington. But I suggested that she apply to two other places. As backup. Which she did. A good thing too!

She didn't get into Washington (I suspect wanting to take out of state students with attendant tuition) but she did get into Michigan (ditto). So, as soon as you get over the huge out of state tuition, it's a great choice. On the downside, you have to actually go to Michigan. Which she did. With my late mom's low mileage Buick. It's a great program, so many opportunities. The classes are great, the roommates are working out. She had a very nice job in the Law Library but then left it for an even better job in the Business Library. Through UM, she's got a great paid internship in Florida in the summer (well Gainesville in the summer might be, um, hot). All good, very good.

So now I'm helping Susanna with her application for a master's in Occupational Therapy. She'll be great ... if she can get in. I know she can do the work; she'll be a great OT and it commands a living wage. She's been taking her missing prerequisites, has good undergraduate grades, some academic honors. Good experience, very strong references. It's just the GRE, well as somebody put it, it doesn't have a pulse. So we've been working on the disabled student twist, making lemonade from lemons, casting it in a positive light. And the UW School of Rehabilitation Medicine has a stated policy of diversity in their student body including disabilities. Our theme: Take a chance in me.

You just give it your best shot.

What does have to do with the illustration? Everything! With a lot of these processes, things that seem to be straightforward just aren't. You can lose your bearings. So, look at that compass (I think it has a special name) and see how it can guide you. Hmmmm, ummmm, well.

Actually I should have guessed some of this. Don't know what the heck they're getting at?

It's a logo for an organization of linguistic grad students at East Denmark universities. And those names on the compass are the university abbreviations. I should have gotten Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and University of Copenhagen (KU)

Of course! Isn't that obvious. That's how this process seems. And I'm just the mom.