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I've scarcely done much online the last few weeks, mainly because I've had scant new information to impart to my good friends out in the nebulous world of cyberspace. The big news is that I accepted the offer of admission to the University of Oregon's PhD program for this fall, turning down Boston University and American University. Getting in to Boston and American is a double-edged sword; on the plus side, they are both highly ranked schools (American is one of the top 10 schools for my field) and are very competitive, as American admits less than 10% of applicants while Boston lets in less than 7%, if what the graduate people told me was correct.

The main issue, as with many things in life, turned out to be money, a resource that I alas have next to none of. As much as I would have liked to live in Washington D.C. or Boston, the financial aspect couldn't be ignored. So while I got into great schools, I can't afford to attend them as they only give out limited scholarship funds. The estimated cost of attending American University is close to $40,000 a year, and Boston is similarly priced. Oregon, meanwhile, is about half that cost, and I managed to get a full tuition scholarship and a paid teaching job while I study there. Oregon is still a fine school, so I don't feel bad about going there at all; my main issue was wanting to live in a large urban environment again, like Boston or D.C. Ah well. I guess I can apply for jobs in larger cities when I'm finally done.

Still, this means that Brian will be seeing me this fall, along with everyone in Portland.