In other news, I’ve been offered and have gratefully accepted a College Graduate Merit Award from the Department of English at USC. The paperwork arrived today and I’ve already sent back my acceptance.
The fellowship offer really translates as an offer of 2 years of fellowship and 3 years as a graduate assistant for a total of 5 years of full graduate support.
Which really means — I don’t need to teach comp my first year and can focus on my writing and studies, and I’ll get another year of fellowship when I’m done with the coursework (so 3rd year will be a fellowship year most likely).
I don’t mind teaching comp, but it is nice to have time to prepare for the screening exams at the end of the first year. Especially since I feel woefully under-prepared right now (somehow my BS Computer Science with Math minor probably won’t help me here). And it looks snazzy on the CV for people who care about CV-snazziness.
All this makes me even more excited to start — I’m ready to jump right in. But we’ve still got a few months in between — and I’ve still got to find an apartment.