Jennica & Matthew Geddert's Ramblings

Jan 15 Applications are in by Jennica

Whew! What a lot of work. I think the part that took me the most off-guard was how many little details there were and how hard it would be to keep my spirits up through it all. The writer’s block, the varying stages of panic about tracking down information, the constant battle between “What are they looking for?” and “What do I want to say?” and the money trickling away for every piece of paper (transcripts, GRE scores, application fees, postage, etc) kept adding up to one discouraged Jennica. I seriously think that writing my entire master’s thesis was easier on my emotions than this. At least every bit of my thesis, even formatting footnotes, felt meaningful. This was prolonged job-hunting. The underlying question everyone is asking is, “Are you good enough for us?” and when I hear the question enough times, I stop seeing my assets and only see my inadequacies. Near the end, when everything was coming together, I started seeing that I’m a strong candidate again. That was nice.

My next projects are scholarship applications and language study. In my field, I need to know Greek, German, French, and Hebrew. Good thing Latin, Coptic, and Italian are optional! Nope, I don’t think it will ever end.