And so the journey begins…

I consider myself to be a master of positive thinking. Worrying, complaining, doubting, and all that stuff…what good does it do? Gloria Naylor wrote in The Women of Brewster Place that “women are all always talking about what a man ain’t instead of what he is.” And that’s how I tend to look at things. What is...rather than what ain’t. It took a long and hard time for that type of thinking to embed itself into my mind in the form of habit, but it was worth it.

When I applied to graduate school twelve days after the deadline, I never once thought that I’d be rejected. Pursuing a degree in Communications felt ordained to me. One morning as I was on my way to work (before I submitted the application) I prayed to God to give me a sign today to let me know that I’m following Your will for my life and pursuing that which You want me to have. When I got to work a reminder popped up on my computer screen saying “What to Expect in Graduate School Seminar this evening at 5:30pm.” I’d completely forgot about the seminar that day and up until that moment wished I was in a bed rather than an office chair. One of the speakers at the seminar was the chairman of the College of Communications. I remember thinking, “Wow. Father, this must really be for me. Thanks for the sign.” And I held on to that thought…that this was for me…in spite of my less than stellar application…even now.

Today, I was just about to go on my lunch break when I decided to check my email. I’d been checking it five and six times a day since I’d submitted the application. This time there was an email waiting on me from the chairman of the College of Communication. I’d been accepted. Yep…you read right. I’ve been accepted to the Master’s in Media and Communication Studies program for the fall semester. Man…God is so good.

I received a provisional acceptance letter. What it is and what it ain’t. Because of my test scores I’ll have to take the GRE again and score at least a 950 and earn a 3.25 cumulative grade point average on my first three courses. I have that in the bag. In the last two years of undergrad I’d gotten my act together and was easily earning 3.5 and up each semester. And the GRE thing…well of course I’m not going to blow the roof off it when I only studied less than a week for it. I got an 880 on my first try and with some studying I’m sure I’ll surpass the blanket requirement of 1000.

I can breathe now. I can make plans. I wanted to start grad school in the summer, but things don’t always work out how we want them to, now do they? So, I have five months to enjoy and prepare. I’m going to enjoy working and living without having to take a class or write an essay. (I don’t think I’ve ever had that luxury.) But I’m also going to prepare. I’m going to read Fundamentals of Communication and work on my speech…speaking clearly, eliminating “umms” and enunciating “g” on words such as going, doing, believing…stuff like that. All that’s left for me to do now is convince my lender to defer my student loans until after I receive my master’s since they start in June. Wish me luck on that, lol.