Well, the UCSB interview is over, and I'm flying back to Atlanta at noon. The interviews themselves (or 'meetings,' as they call them, for us pre-accepted visitors) went alright, although I have to say, I guess everyone here was more interesting on paper than in person, because I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided that UCSB had cool research and I wanted to come here! This makes me doubly glad that I got into UCSF! There is some interesting stuff going on here, but nothing that really got me fired up like, well...just about everyone that I talked to at UCSF.
Also, some of the graduate students I met here seemed pretty weird. The ones vetted by the school to show us around were unfailingly polite, cheerful, and had their heads up the schools ass, of course, but the other grad students I talked to that were not part of the recruitment session were pretty sketchy. They took us out drinking last night, which was fun, and a lot of the people there were cool, but some of them were just... I mean, damn. Nails in the coffin, guys, I definitely don't want to come here if the other grad students are douchebags. Overall, while the school and the town were beautiful, I got kind of an off vibe from the place. I don't think I will come here.
I have considered simply canceling my trip to Phoenix and accepting UCSF's offer, but it's only a week from now, and I am genuinely curious to meet Gro Amdam, who is so interested in working with me that she requested that I come early and spend almost an entire day meeting with her and her lab. Her research sounds pretty interesting, but this could also potentially be the most boring thing I've done to date... But I've told the UCSF admissions people that I will let them know by March 12th (when I get back from Phoenix), so even if UCSD or Harvard make me some kind of offer at this point, it's hard to see what they could offer than UCSF isn't doing better.
Santa Barbara is incredibly beautiful, though, I have to say. The pictures of this place, nice as they are, do not do this place justice. That is the main reason why I would want to come here, to be honest, after these interviews...and it would be so nice!! But, of course, I can't make a graduate school decision that way.
So, it looks like I'm going to be throwing all my stuff into the Civic this summer and driving to San Francisco. Sounds like fun to me!
Big congratulations man, I'm glad things have finally worked out for you. I know you've been frustrated these last few years, but now you know with the wisdom of hindsight that you were really doing the right things with your time - look what happened. No time was wasted! And, for what it's worth, I'm glad we've had a few more years to spend in the same neighborhood before we go out into the wild world forever. The grandeur of the rest of our lives has yet to be written, but I know for certain that I'm glad for the ones I got to hang out with you.
ReplyDeleteThanks dude! Yeah, I think you're right about all that -- I've been pretty frustrated for the last couple of years, but I feel sort of vindicated now that everything came out ok. And hey, I actually got into UCSF this time around -- that's worth a cheer or three!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we finally got to room together, too. And it seems like things are coming together for you, too, with your paid video taping jobs and whatnot -- you said how you wished that you had done lots of extracurriculars as an undergrad, but that's no different than what you're doing now, right?
Build that portfolio...it's the only thing that really matters, if I understand art/film schools at all!