Procrastination is the secret
So, last night Steph came over to help me pack and told me the family news. Hmph.
"Sam isn't coming to Folk Fest", she said.
"What? How do you know that?!"
"Well, it's on the BLOG," she said, rolling her eyes. So I figured I better get back up to speed so I'm at least as much in the loop as Steph is.
So it's been an interesting week. Calgary Folk Fest was great, as described by everyone else, and Allison's friend kindly gave my friend Valerie and I a ride back to Edmonton. I got home and checked my mail to find a letter from the University at Bangor - saying they had decided to cancel the MSc in Psychological Research, but they could offer me an MA instead, which they felt would better suit my needs.
I was somewhat flabbergasted, especially after reading the description of the MA they sent me. No thesis, not suitable to go on to PhD, and basically not much use at all to me (or at least it would cut off a lot of avenues). So I spent two days as follows: 1). Trying to comprehend that they weren't offering my course and I was screwed; 2). Trying to decide if I should go anyway and then try to upgrade later or beg and plead to see if they could transfer me somewhere else that offers an MSc; and 3). Stressing out greatly.
Finally I decided that my best option was to call a professor I had been in touch with previously about the course. She's Canadian and had been extremely helpful and informative, and was a key component of my decision to apply in the first place.
And, it turns out, that was the best decision I made all week. Dr. Raymond was very sympathetic, seemed eager to work with me and help me out, and offered me a place in her lab for the year. Apparently I can sort of cobble together courses that will approximate the ones that used to be offered for the MSc, then do some research with her lab and write a thesis on the results of that. If all goes according to plan, I'll still be done in a year and have the degree I wanted. Yay!
In fact, she also sent an email to her lab to ask if anyone knew of housing in Bangor - and one of her PhD students has offered me a bed for a couple of days while I try to find a place to live! I am extremely grateful and of course much relieved, as I hadn't got around to booking a place in a hostel yet for when I got there. (I HAD, however, bought my plane ticket - so would have really been in trouble had I not had Dr. Raymond advocating for me).
So the moral of the story is: always procrastinate. If you leave things till the last minute, you will never get stuck with a valid plane ticket and a cancelled course!
"Sam isn't coming to Folk Fest", she said.
"What? How do you know that?!"
"Well, it's on the BLOG," she said, rolling her eyes. So I figured I better get back up to speed so I'm at least as much in the loop as Steph is.
So it's been an interesting week. Calgary Folk Fest was great, as described by everyone else, and Allison's friend kindly gave my friend Valerie and I a ride back to Edmonton. I got home and checked my mail to find a letter from the University at Bangor - saying they had decided to cancel the MSc in Psychological Research, but they could offer me an MA instead, which they felt would better suit my needs.
I was somewhat flabbergasted, especially after reading the description of the MA they sent me. No thesis, not suitable to go on to PhD, and basically not much use at all to me (or at least it would cut off a lot of avenues). So I spent two days as follows: 1). Trying to comprehend that they weren't offering my course and I was screwed; 2). Trying to decide if I should go anyway and then try to upgrade later or beg and plead to see if they could transfer me somewhere else that offers an MSc; and 3). Stressing out greatly.
Finally I decided that my best option was to call a professor I had been in touch with previously about the course. She's Canadian and had been extremely helpful and informative, and was a key component of my decision to apply in the first place.
And, it turns out, that was the best decision I made all week. Dr. Raymond was very sympathetic, seemed eager to work with me and help me out, and offered me a place in her lab for the year. Apparently I can sort of cobble together courses that will approximate the ones that used to be offered for the MSc, then do some research with her lab and write a thesis on the results of that. If all goes according to plan, I'll still be done in a year and have the degree I wanted. Yay!
In fact, she also sent an email to her lab to ask if anyone knew of housing in Bangor - and one of her PhD students has offered me a bed for a couple of days while I try to find a place to live! I am extremely grateful and of course much relieved, as I hadn't got around to booking a place in a hostel yet for when I got there. (I HAD, however, bought my plane ticket - so would have really been in trouble had I not had Dr. Raymond advocating for me).
So the moral of the story is: always procrastinate. If you leave things till the last minute, you will never get stuck with a valid plane ticket and a cancelled course!
posted by Anne at 3:20 PM
2 Comments:
Oh, Anne. Your science background should surely have taught you that anecdotal evidence is not the basis upon which one makes larger conclusions. I suggest you procrastinate for the rest of your life and then see if you can empirically measure whether you have benefited in the long run from it.
Actually, when I procrastinate I end up in worse trouble. Though I am happy that it works out for some people.
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