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The OMGWTFGRADSCHOOL Update
So, apparently I'm going to grad school this fall.
Things done:
1. Told my college (CLIS) that I'm coming, via email and in writing.
2. Applied for financial aid.
3. Applied for housing (about which more in a sec).
4. Told my boss, her boss, and everyone else at my workplace that I am getting the hell out of here in a few months.
5. Registered for classes ("Information Use," "Information Access," and "Information Structure" - no, I have no idea what any of those actually mean, they're first year requirements).
6. Told my college that I'm not coming to orientation this Saturday, via email.
Things not done:
1. Told the graduate school I'm coming, in writing.
2. Gotten a doctor's note to indicate that I've had all my shots and am not tubercular or otherwise about to drop dead.
3. Figured out what the fuck is up with the housing people.
So the housing situation has always, even before I applied, been the thing I was most worried about. When I was working on my application, in fact, the graduate school website didn't have a "Housing" link. It had a "Housing Crisis" link. It didn't exactly inspire confidence.
Nonetheless, faced with trying to locate housing from 600 miles away, I decided to take a shot on the university-affiliated grad student apartment housing. According to the website, you go on a waitlist, and will be informed 30 days in advance of whether you're going to have somewhere to live or not. If not, your deposit will be refunded, and you'll be given priority in locating housing at one of their other sixty-some apartment communities in the area. On the other hand, if you do get a place, it's the closest you can possibly live to campus, on the bus route, more or less affordable and not slummier than my years in Ann Arbor have left me equipped to deal with.
So I applied last week - an application form filled out online, deposit paid online, both of which processes included giving them my email address repeatedly. Thus far, no confirmation email of any kind has been forthcoming, but yesterday when I checked my mail, there was an envelope with my address handwritten on the front. Aha! I thought. Confirmation!
Nope.
It was a thank you card. The kind my grandma wishes I would send. Silver script Thank You on the front. Inside--once again handwritten--was a note.
Thank you for your interest in the apartment community. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Thank You
...no signature, just that underlined "Thank You." No helpful information, although I assume they send a different card--condolences, maybe?--if your application is actually rejected. No sign of where or whether I'm on a waitlist, no information on what I can expect, apart from their expectation that they will see me soon, and what the fuck does that mean? Soon? Like, three months soon, when they will without fail hand over a set of keys on my requested move-in date? Sooner-than-that soon, when they erroneously imagine I will make the trek down from Michigan to say hi?
Is this some kind of weird Southern courtesy thing? If so, is there any way to make them stop?
Things done:
1. Told my college (CLIS) that I'm coming, via email and in writing.
2. Applied for financial aid.
3. Applied for housing (about which more in a sec).
4. Told my boss, her boss, and everyone else at my workplace that I am getting the hell out of here in a few months.
5. Registered for classes ("Information Use," "Information Access," and "Information Structure" - no, I have no idea what any of those actually mean, they're first year requirements).
6. Told my college that I'm not coming to orientation this Saturday, via email.
Things not done:
1. Told the graduate school I'm coming, in writing.
2. Gotten a doctor's note to indicate that I've had all my shots and am not tubercular or otherwise about to drop dead.
3. Figured out what the fuck is up with the housing people.
So the housing situation has always, even before I applied, been the thing I was most worried about. When I was working on my application, in fact, the graduate school website didn't have a "Housing" link. It had a "Housing Crisis" link. It didn't exactly inspire confidence.
Nonetheless, faced with trying to locate housing from 600 miles away, I decided to take a shot on the university-affiliated grad student apartment housing. According to the website, you go on a waitlist, and will be informed 30 days in advance of whether you're going to have somewhere to live or not. If not, your deposit will be refunded, and you'll be given priority in locating housing at one of their other sixty-some apartment communities in the area. On the other hand, if you do get a place, it's the closest you can possibly live to campus, on the bus route, more or less affordable and not slummier than my years in Ann Arbor have left me equipped to deal with.
So I applied last week - an application form filled out online, deposit paid online, both of which processes included giving them my email address repeatedly. Thus far, no confirmation email of any kind has been forthcoming, but yesterday when I checked my mail, there was an envelope with my address handwritten on the front. Aha! I thought. Confirmation!
Nope.
It was a thank you card. The kind my grandma wishes I would send. Silver script Thank You on the front. Inside--once again handwritten--was a note.
Thank you for your interest in the apartment community. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Thank You
...no signature, just that underlined "Thank You." No helpful information, although I assume they send a different card--condolences, maybe?--if your application is actually rejected. No sign of where or whether I'm on a waitlist, no information on what I can expect, apart from their expectation that they will see me soon, and what the fuck does that mean? Soon? Like, three months soon, when they will without fail hand over a set of keys on my requested move-in date? Sooner-than-that soon, when they erroneously imagine I will make the trek down from Michigan to say hi?
Is this some kind of weird Southern courtesy thing? If so, is there any way to make them stop?