NYU.

So it turns out, for those of you who haven't been in the loop over the past week, that I got accepted into New York University for graduate school after all. I just opened my official letter about three minutes ago, but I got the email last Thursday. What happened was I applied for the Cultural Criticism and Reporting masters program within the department of journalism during winter break, but I really doubted my chances and subsequently forgot all about it, especially after I got into Columbia for the summer.

That is, until this email hit my inbox at about the exact time that I was handing in my final assignment here at KU, a term paper critiquing Tom Friedman's obnoxious book Lexus and the Olive Tree for my mentor, the amazing Professor Antonio. I was informed that due to the extraordinary number of people who applied for the CRC program I was turned down, but also that my application was indeed so impressive to the committee that a slot had been saved for me in the general News Reporting program, should I want it. All I had to do was tell them to reprocess my application, and I would have four weeks to decide to enroll.

Now there are several worthy factors to consider, namely 1) I just spent the last few months talking about how ready I was to get out of school for a while, and started looking forward to a career in publishing. Now I again have thoughts of journalistic and literary glory hanging in front of my face, when I had nearly resigned myself to a career of management and number crunching (as most book editors are now expected to do). 2) Is it worth the certain tens and tens of thousands of dollars in debt that will certainly accrue from living and studying in the heart of Manhattan over the span of eighteen months, though I managed to get through my undergrad without any debt? 3) I'm pretty sure it's too late to find campus housing, so I'll have to delve into the most notorious apartment living scene in the nation, and do so in short order. Had they informed me of my acceptance a month earlier this could've played out differently; middle of May is kinda late in the game to be telling somebody to get ready to move across the country and enroll.

I'm still unsure as to what I'll do. Honestly, I can't imagine turning it down, especially considering that I'm also going to Columbia and will thus be able to combine both the publishing experience there with the MA in news reporting. I'll keep you posted, but for now, speaking of Columbia, I gotta start my homework. I have enough advance assignments to potentially do more work leading up to my arrival in NYC than I did in this past semester. No offense, Professor.