How far I've come (you, as well, I'm sure)

[smcg]

In June of 2014, at the age of 37, I decide to try to go back to school for a Ph.D. I went to Barnes and Noble and cracked open a GRE prep book for the first time. I studied for 5 months and took a Manhattan Prep GRE course. I did well on the exam, but not as well as I had hoped. I continued to study and took a 2nd exam on December 16, 2014. Mind you, I left my job and was studying AT LEAST 5 days a week for 8 hours per day. After studying, I was working on applications, statements, writing samples, etc. 

 

I finally achieved a good enough score on 12/16 to feel as though I could relax... boy was I wrong about the relaxing! I never figured that the waiting for decisions would be so gut wrenching. I was accepted to a program on Jan 26th. I was awarded full tuition and fees plus a stipend as  TA. I was relieved, but I wasn't happy. 

 

On March 6, I got an offer for a TA position at the University of South Carolina... I was ecstatic, but once again, starting ALL OVER AGAIN. Now, it was time to pack, sell my house, buy a house, move to SC.... holy crap! 

 

It is now June 25, 2015. It is just about 1 year later. I sold my house for $450,000. I bought a house in SC for $224,000 in cash that I got from the equity in my old house. I have never lived outside of New England.  I have never lived in the shout... but here I am, with my wife and 2 dogs in 100+ degree weather. The thing that really blows my mind is that this is not the end... in fact, I haven't even STARTED yet! I start in August with TA training.

 

How far have YOU come?

[firewitch]

In 2008, I was 50 yrs old, with one year of college from 30 years back, managing a horse farm in Texas. I had virtually no financial assets - a small savings account and a few stocks.

I started at a community college, then quit my job and did my last 2 years of undergrad as a full-time student on Pell grants and scholarships. I packed up or sold 20 years of accumulation, my two farm dogs, and moved into a rental.

After graduating with honors, I applied to 13 graduate programs, and was offered funding by two of them. I moved what little I had to an efficiency apartment in a new state, dogs and all.

Now I am about to get my MA (at the age of 57) and am preparing to begin my doctoral training (on fellowship)

I still have no assets, but me and the dogs are healthy and happy. There have been many moments of panic, feelings of being an imposter, but the doors keep opening, so I just keep walking.

 

You'll do fine!

[Ashlée]

In 2009, I dropped out of high school in my senior year, just months from graduating.  I had previously discovered the music of a francophone singer from Québec thanks to a friend I met on deviantART, fell in love, and decided to teach myself French using various websites just so I could understand his lyrics and interviews.  I had no car and therefore no way to get my GED or a job.  I lived with my mom, sister, and aunt, surviving off of food stamps and welfare.  Even if I DID get a GED, I didn't think it would ever be possible for me to go back to school - my grades had been bad and, in some cases, positively terrible.  One year later, the parents of the aforementioned best friend flew me out to visit them in the next state over without ever having met me previously.  They decided to help me.  They paid for me to get my GED (the test for which I finished so quickly that they scored it then and there).  After that, they paid for me to take the ACTs.  In just a year-and-a-half, I had gone from thinking my life was a dead end to applying to university.

 

I applied to three different universities, the top choice of which being the school the aforementioned best friend and her other best friend (and my new best friend) attended.  I was admitted into all three.  In 2011, I moved in with them, becoming a permanent resident of Missouri and changing my address to theirs.  They helped me get a job, get my driver's license, get new glasses, go to the doctor, everything I'd been unable to do before.  I started university that Fall as a French major, having tested into the highest intermediate level after two years of studying on my own.  Throughout undergrad, I participated in eight French plays, was vice president and historian of the National French Honor Society, studied abroad for five weeks in Québec City, and tutored intermediate and elementary-level French students.  As a senior, I was named Outstanding French Student at the Academic Honors Awards.  I received a 4.0 GPA in my final semester (the first 4.0 of my life) and received a spot on the President's List.

 

I had a choice between attending a TA program in France or attending grad school in Québec, and I chose the latter.  Now I'm spending two more months in the States before moving up to Montréal for two years.  I spent two years thinking my life was going nowhere, that I was stuck because of my decision to drop out of school.  But then people came and picked me up.  I cannot believe how lucky I've been.  Five years ago, I was sitting in my room, playing video games, bemoaning how much my life sucked because of my own decisions and because of other things I couldn't control.  Now I'm preparing to move to my favorite city in the world and study the language I love and literature in the language I love.

 

So I think I've come pretty far.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Ashlée