encoded notions

Everything is in a state of bidirectional flux.

In one direction, I see that the quarter is winding down, classes are now finished, COREs are over. Thanksgiving break is almost here—but not until after finals week. On the other hand, the GRE subject tests are tomorrow. This is the head end of a very large Graduate School beast to contend with. Deadlines, essays, applications, fees, visits, test scores, transcripts, hoping, acceptances, rejections, pondering.

It begs the question, “why does it have to be so difficult?” Does it really matter where I go for further schooling? I would most certainly think so, but the more I consider the directions to go from here, I see that I can’t find any good arguments to go to one school over another because it is “better”. I thought the same thing about undergraduate schooling when I was applying to colleges in high school. I thought that it really mattered where I went, when in actuality there was a large pool of decent schools to go to (and a list of no-no colleges). In the end, going to RIT turned out pretty well in the end. I think its best for my peace of mind if I just surrender to the ebb and flow of probability and let the world decide where I should go.

The school doesn’t make the person, the person makes the school. Without students, the universities would be meaningless. Wherever I go, the path is still the same. The field might not necessarily be conservative, but the destination is the same. After that, I’m free to decide what to do (that is of course after paying off my loans, of course).

Fresh on the horizon: another 4-6 years of delaying the universal question from childhood: “What do you want to do when you grow up?”