Mandasplaining

Gah that’s so comforting. Childcare in Nashville is a full-on BEAST and we have already gotten on as many waitlists as we can in each respective city so that when we know where we’ll be, we can hopefully already have an advantage in getting her in a program. Honestly, her enrollment process is nearly as time consuming as mine. We are definitely hoping for on-campus care for her, several schools do offer it, and she is already enrolled in a school here, so that’s why I’m reallllllly praying my dream scenario will work out.

I’m married, have a 9 month old, and my husband is a songwriter/music producer. We live in Nashville. I applied to 16 PhD programs: 5 in California, 2 in Nashville, and the rest are all in *sorta* close proximity to Nashville, because he is going to have to travel back and forth a LOT for work. It’s a huge sacrifice on his part, and I’m beyond lucky he’s willing to work like this for a few years. In my dream world, I’ll be at Vanderbilt and we won’t have to move. Right now I haven’t heard a word from them, and I feel like it’s gonna be a NO. I have a SUPER GENEROUS offer from Kentucky, and that’s a 3 1/2 hour drive from Nashville and we could make that work. Honestly, moving to California would be the easiest Plan B just because he already works out there a lot, it wouldn’t be weeks at a time back in Nashville. If we end up at Kentucky, I will be totally FINE, but it feels a heck of a lot more complicated with the babe child. I was going to apply to programs last year, but the day I started collecting info for apps and what all I needed to do, was also the day I found out I was pregnant. That was...fun. Hahaha. I didn’t want to wait too long to apply because I was afraid if I didn’t do it while she is still so young, it would be increasingly difficult to do the older she gets. But now I’m just...OH SHIT WHAT ARE WE DOING WHO IS GOING TO RAISE YOU WHEN YOUR DAD IS OUT OF TOWN I GUESS THE DOG WILL BE FINE AS A NANNY.

Here is my situation: I’m married, have a 9 month old, and my husband is a songwriter/music producer. We live in Nashville. I applied to 16 PhD programs: 5 in California, 2 in Nashville, and the rest are all in *sorta* close proximity to Nashville, because he is going to have to travel back and forth a LOT for work. It’s a huge sacrifice on his part, and I’m beyond lucky he’s willing to work like this for a few years. In my dream world, I’ll be at Vanderbilt and we won’t have to move. Right now I haven’t heard a word from them, and I feel like it’s gonna be a NO. I have a SUPER GENEROUS offer from Kentucky, and that’s a 3 1/2 hour drive from Nashville and we could make that work. Honestly, moving to California would be the easiest Plan B just because he already works out there a lot, it wouldn’t be weeks at a time back in Nashville. If we end up at Kentucky, I will be totally FINE, but it feels a heck of a lot more complicated with the babe child. I was going to apply to programs last year, but the day I started collecting info for apps and what all I needed to do, was also the day I found out I was pregnant. That was...fun. Hahaha. I didn’t want to wait too long to apply because I was afraid if I didn’t do it while she is still so young, it would be increasingly difficult to do the older she gets. But now I’m just...OH SHIT WHAT ARE WE DOING WHO IS GOING TO RAISE YOU WHEN YOUR DAD IS OUT OF TOWN I GUESS THE DOG WILL BE FINE AS A NANNY.

sorry it took me a million years to answer this. I applied to the PhD program.

In at Kentucky! Got the phone call this afternoon! I’ve applied to 16 schools and gotten a couple of waitlists and a couple of rejections, but still have a lotttttt to hear from!