Famous Last Words: Sending Emails

Outside of School:

This technically isn't outside of school, as it pertains to school but is not relevant to the coursework I'm doing now. That said, as of last week, I started sending emails out to different professors inquiring about grad school. I actually have a Zoom call in about 12 hours that I am very much looking forward too. But it's stressful sending these emails for me because I totally and concerned with the first impression. I think that one of the last emails I sent, I checked the email about four or five times to ensure that everything was spelled correctly and that they grammar was all in the right place. It's a very nerve-wracking event. I also started the actual application for some schools, which is obviously a fair bit of paperwork. But the reason why I'm preparing and starting on this now ties into my "Next Week" blurb. Next week, starting on Tuesday, Sept. 15th, a LOT of grad school postings are finalized, which is when the nitty gritty of details starts to really kick in and you can start eliminating schools off of the list based on who is offering assistantship money and who isn't. But there's at least one school that I'm looking at where I've already been in contact with the professor (the same one I'm meeting via Zoom tomorrow). He has confirmed that he has two assistantship slots open, and that they both come with full tuition waivers and usually they come with significant stipends. There is a lot of work (probably at least 20 hours/week) involved, but it's all stuff that I want to do and stuff that I would be excited to do, so here's hoping I get considered. As far as my coursework, I hope to balance the load a little bit better to where I'm not stuck at the computer for hours on one day but we'll see how things shape up. 

(image - forward email - credit - Douglas Santos)