aw geez

I've been awarded a Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) postgraduate prize studentship (http://www.sicsa.ac.uk/graduate-academy/prize-studentships/) to study at the school of Informatics of the University of Edinburgh! This covers half of the domestic tuition rate and provides a 13,000 pound annual stipend. The school of Informatics will secure enough funding to cover the other half of tuition (at domestic rates) and the "other half" of the stipend ^_^

So all I have left is the difference between domestic tuition and international tuition, which is about 6,500 pounds per year. Hopefully I can get that covered before the US decision deadline (April 15) by an advisor's grant or an NSF graduate research fellowship (which I'll hear back from the first week of April).

I've been getting more and more excited about this. The two people I've talked to who are really familiar with the European three-year PhD system don't seem to think that the length contrast will be an issue (since I won't be taking classes officially or teaching, and I have a pretty good idea what I want to do for my PhD).

This is a terrific thing for my long-term future but terrible for my short term. As in, I have a presentation on Monday that I am not prepared for because I have been learning all about Edinburgh. It was founded in 1582 and is completely rad. I mean, the "new town" was founded in 1800, and the "old town" dates several centuries earlier. A friend of mine who did her MSc at Edinburgh said that if I live off-campus, it will be very easy to live in a structure that dates to the 15th century.

It's the school that produced David Hume, Adam Smith, Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Darwin, and basically millions of other people who collectively changed history.

The architecture and natural surroundings are just breathtaking.

And this doesn't even involve the program. There are over 100 tenured faculty in Informatics, it's the best place to do comp ling by several measures, there's a new baby lab being formed by a professor who has contacted me, I mean... wow

I really hope that tuition difference can be made up..... although my other choices are excellent as well!

-=-raptur-=-

the best layover i ever DID have

after interviewing at Stanford I flew back to c-bus today, naturally. the first leg was to detroit, and I had a 1.5 hr layover until heading to c-bus. While I was in detroit I turned on my phone in case krissy needed to call me since he'd agreed to pick me up.

instead of krissy, I got a call from D.J., a faculty member at Stanford who's kind of a big deal, and found out that... i've been accepted! five years full funding (tuition, health care, stipend) including two summers guaranteed.

i'm going to wait to make an actual decision until I have time over spring break to sit down and process everything, but stanford felt very right.

still buzzing! and thanks again krissy for celebrating with me ^_^

-=-raptur-=-

heh

you're right, krissy, starting next year I'll have to basically replace my entire circle of friends next year too

well, not replace you guys exactly, but you know.

and that is the first scary thing about grad school, I think.