Decision Time!

So, I did get into both University of Maryland's PhD program in Applied Mathematics and George Mason University's PhD program in Computational Sciences and Informatics.

Now my job is to decide. I probably will go to UMD since it is a very good program, but I will have to check out GMU still to see how it feels. UMD's program is very well established and well-known, vs. GMU's which is very up and coming and new. UMD entails a LONG commute, LOTS more loans, etc... but GMU would still be a lot of money and not a short commute (not that grad school decisions should be made on those factors...).

So, decisions.

In other news, I visited the Senate this morning with Will. He has been an intern in the Senate finance committee this semester. They have a breakfast gathering every Wednesday mornings for Montanans. So, I impersonated a Billings Person (apparently there is no word for that), and attended. It was kind of awkward and VERY light on the food (political people don't eat, doncha know), but interesting at the very least. After light conversation and shaking Senator Baucus' hand (which kind of hurt), I had a picture taken with the Senator and moved on. We toured the capitol a little and took the secret Disney World subway that goes underground between the Senate, House, and Capitol. It seriously has cartoon shaped little subway cars and cartoonish music when it starts moving (and was made by Disney World).

Then I went to work for four hours, then visited UMD, where I spoke with the program director and got more info.

As a sidenote, maybe work isn't so bad afterall? I will have to see over time. Suddenly, after deciding that it is going absolutely no where, my boss asked me to work on an excellent project, saying that it would be a better use of my time than sending out mailings and such (though I am sure I will have to continue doing that, at least for the time being... who else will do it??). They are going to hire 2 new people soon, but a worker there right now is leaving (who is part time), and I will be going to part time during school. Anyway, I will be helping to analyze some economic data using Matlab! I used to know nothing about economics and real estate and still know little, but I am learning. In any case, I don't really have to know much for this, I will be using the program mostly. I am starting to reassociate myself with Matlab after using it a bit at Whitman and a good amount this summer for a class at the UW. I am pretty excited about this, but I worry that I won't actually get to spend much time at it when it comes back to reality. We will see.

Merry Christmas! Things always bounce back even when we think they couldn't possibly, don't they?