admissions visit OVER

So after worrying myself for weeks about my cohort (too old! too boring! too much love for dead white men!), I am back from my admissions visit, refreshed (ok, not really; there wasn't nearly enough sleep involved) and incredibly excited about the coming fall. To start out with, my cohort = fabulous and not at all what I was expecting/dreading. While there are a good number of people who took time off, got their masters, etc., there are also two others besides me who are still undergrads, and it really wasn't noticeable who was older and/or who had more experience. Best of all, I really bonded with three people (one has my research interests, only flipped -postcolonial with a hint of Asian/American-, one is a totally fabulous qpoc with interests in Asian diasporic writing, one loves shopping and clubbing and is going to be my golddigging buddy -totally kidding, totally kidding-) and even had tentative roommate conversations with two of these lovely ladies.

With regards to the current grad students: again, FABULOUS. A lot of people have diverse interests and are also into theory, but regardless, they're all a really friendly and supportive bunch of people. (Also, apparently the third years are the "queer year," with 9 out of 11 grads self-identifying as queer. While my cohort cannot match these amazing statistics -I think there are only three of us who identify?-, we already have the most skewed gender ratio -at the visit, around 12 women to 2 men-. Dubious distinction, I know.)

As for the faculty...oh the faculty. Let me count the ways to love! They are so incredibly friendly (I know I keep repeating this adjective, but it's so true!) and collegial and it's seriously mindblowing considering the insane academic reputations that are involved. We had a dinner party at Professor L's house the first night, and I think I knew then that I was destined for the program. The crowning moment was when I was outside chainsmoking with Professors L* and E (both, incidentally, the reasons why I applied for the program) and talking about Project Runway, Big Brother, and a myriad of other bad programs (I mean really, who knew that academics were so into trashy reality shows? It was seriously amazing).

I think, more than anything, I was really reassured that my program is where I'm supposed to be. I kept worrying that I was an admissions mistake (I was the ONLY person there who wasn't an English/Literature major in college and seriously glazed over when people were telling me about their interests in Renaissance drama or modernist blah blah blah or whatever), but in the end, it was really good to connect with the professors on a really substantive level and (ego moment!) to be told by Professor S -who was on the admissions committee- that my application was one of the few that really stood out to her.

In any case, I've already turned in my deposit and official acceptance for the program, and at this point, am counting down the days til I get to go back and start my grad school career for real.

*L who, incidentally, "quit smoking" fourteen years ago. Apparently she survives by bumming cigarettes off of her students after seminars. LOVE