Living Dead Girl

Well, my excitement and enthusiasm for applying to York next year has already faltered. This morning I discovered that I need THREE, not two, references. This complicates my life... I was surprised at the ease with which I found #2, which practically dictates that #3 will be a pip. A colleague of mine suggested I get a communications prof to do it, since I took a COMM course last year and it is partially a COMM program I'm applying into. Unfortunately, my COMM prof and I didn't exactly strike a chord. More specifically, he turned me off by LECTURING throughout his seminars (we're supposed to do the talking, pal!) and then busting my balls about the final paper proposal. In the end, I wrote a stupid paper that I hated, and he appeared to hate it equally. A-. Not a bad mark, but there's no way I'm asking him for a ref.

So I have to ask someone else. There's a department conference Friday, where I can ostensibly shmooze and feel some of my former profs out. I hate mandatory shmoozing. I'm a good shmoozer when I'm in the mood, but now I have this PhD gun to my head. Eff.

Furthermore, I discovered that York also wants my undergrad transcripts, which I thought I had escaped entirely. Truth is, I was a rather mediocre student in my first two years. It wasn't until midway through the 3rd that I got caught up in sociology and decided to run with it. Presumeably, they're not going to care much about my marks for my first two years, but they sure did hurt my average and I'm sure I only got into my Masters program thanks to my references and contacting Carleton profs.

Which brings me to the third pain in my ass. My colleague told me point-blank that I have no chance of getting in to that program without meeting with some profs and convincing them to work with me. He said he had an A+ average after his undergrad, but he still got rejected from graduate schools he didn't visit. Well, fuck.

I mean, I should have known this. I freely admit that contacting a prof helped me get into Carleton. But York is in Toronto! It's not like a half hour drive. Furthermore, it's practically the holidays and the application is due mid-Jan. Like people aren't busy enough without jackass last-minute students coming to kiss their asses? Eep.

Anyway, none of this is terrible, tragic news. I have time to round up another reference. I'll check out the York faculty list and email some profs for some meetings. Maybe I'll go in early Jan when the holiday shitstorm dies down.