Update post

A week ago my advisor urged me to put in my application for the counseling program, specifically to continue in the rehabilitation field. That hadn't been the exact path I had intended to take, but it is fairly close. I honestly couldn't decide and spent last weekend thinking about it. There were other things that came up that seemed to take priority. A day or so ago I realized that I wasn't going to be able to meet the deadline of April 15, no matter what I did. On Monday I was told to submit what I had by Thursday and add the rest of the paperwork as soon as I could. Tuesday was... well... a Tuesday I would just as soon not repeat.

I stayed up last night or rather very, very early this morning, finishing the personal statement/history essay for the application for the program for the Master of Science degree in Counseling with a rehabilitation option, higher ed specialization and a career counseling certificate. Thursday was supposed to be the close date for the applications. (and I may decide later to change that specialization to vocational rehab, we'll see.)

Five hours later I got up and gathered as much of the necessary documents as were available to put together the packet and turn in the application. It's in and the process is started.

I still need five letters of recommendation- three for the program and two for the University. There are lots of little details remaining like finishing the University application and sending them a fee; making sure my partial transcripts (and those letters) get put with the application on file when I get them; and making sure that the certificate program and the higher ed one both have their little separate forms with the whole.

It will take another couple of weeks to have everything all completed and if this is anything like applying for the undergrad transfer, there will be numerous hoops (including a lot that don't make sense) to jump through to get all the paperwork straight.

But the counseling degree office said that there are several slots still open and they are still looking for candidates for that particular program, so submitting a partial app and subsequently adding the rest of the paperwork will not affect my being considered or approved. I hope she is right. My GPA is excellent; rapport with instructors has been excellent; the internship is coming along and so it looks very hopeful-- even if it wasn't my best work essay wise.

Oh, and I will only need 61 credit units to complete the Masters program, since I have already completed a third or so of them as an undergrad. So depending on how hard I want to push myself, I could be finished in a year and three months or in a year and 9 months. Tonight running a hard quick race doesn't sound very attractive.