Applying for grad school

Bisexual Bicyclist
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

I decided mid-week last week that I wanted to explore the possibility of doing a Master’s degree sometime soon — I’d thought I might eventually, but, like, in 20 years once the hypothetical future kids are older. But I really loved the Industry Conference last week in Small Field, and would love to continue the research I did for my undergrad thesis in Tiny Subfield, so here I am. Industry Conference was Sunday through Thursday last week; I heard that Local University offers a thesis-based Master’s while at Industry Conference, sometime mid-week — maybe Tuesday or Wednesday.

I got home on Thursday evening, and told my spouse, Chris, that I was considering doing a Master’s soon; Friday I emailed back and forth with a prof, and we met this afternoon. Since then I’ve had emails from Department Chair (who, incidentally, goes to my parents’ church) and Administrative Assistant; I’ve emailed three references, and heard back from two. As soon as I hear back from Reference Three (assuming they’re willing), I can fill out my application and send it in — hopefully by Wednesday, since I leave on Thursday to go camping with friends. If all goes well, that’s about one week from hearing that the program existed and going “hmm, I should look into that!” to having my application done and submitted.

Once my application is submitted, Department Chair is hoping to get it fast-tracked through the rest of the application process and University Bureaucracy, so that maybe I can start in September. (The deadline, technically, was Feb. 1, “late applications will be accepted until April 1”. To quote Douglas Adams, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by”). If not September, I should be able to start in January — but it would be really nice to start in September, when most people would be starting.

I’m really looking forward to being able to continue my research in Tiny Subfield. It’s really personally fulfilling for me, since it’s tied to my identities—and it also feels like I’m doing important work that can have a social justice impact. I’m really passionate about this research, and I love really digging into an interest and learning as much as I can about it.

Speaking of digging into interests, a thread on Twitter caught my eye today. Corey Alexander (@TGStoneButch) tweeted asking, “what’s something you love about being neuroatypical”, and I saw myself reflected in a bunch of the replies and quote-tweets—hyper focus, being passionate about everything, digging into interests intensely, finding everything interesting, experiencing emotions really strongly. I’ve never been diagnosed as neurodivergent, but I strongly suspect that I have ADHD — my brother was diagnosed with ADD as a kid (back before it was all labeled ADHD), and I share a lot of his symptoms as well as other symptoms found mostly in grown women (I’m guessing cis women, since studies that properly include trans people are pretty uncommon). Reading that thread was incredibly validating and affirming for me — both of my self-diagnosis, but also the recognition that some of the things I also love about myself might be due to my own neurodivergent brain. (Incidentally, this is one reason we need good rep of neurodivergent folks in literature — so that we can see ourselves reflected in this way).

It’s really affirming for me to recognize that I likely enjoyed my undergrad thesis so much because of my neurodivergence (or at least, in part because of that); for me to recognize that if I were neurotypical, I might not even be considering grad school. My weird brain loves to learn and to dive deeply into a subject, and loves that enough to keep me motivated through a large independent project — and that’s something to celebrate!

— — —

Update 16/08/2017: I got in, and I’m starting this fall!

Update 13/08/2019: I quit after one term, because it turned out to not be a great fit for me. It was, in many ways, like a forest-fire in my life: unsustainable in the long-term, but it cleared a lot of room for other things to grow!

Bisexual Bicyclist

Written by

Queer enby spoonie bicyclist with chronic pain.

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