4 ms·

You aren't leaning on your story so much as you are demonstrating successful experience navigating a world that isn't laid out in a way that made it easy. Reti

You aren't leaning on your story so much as you are demonstrating successful experience navigating a world that isn't laid out in a way that made it easy. Retiring from the military? I expect you know deeply how to navigate a bureaucratic system with sometimes frustratingly weird rules. (translation - can work through grad school institutional requirements without hand holding) Possibly at least partially funded by outside sources? (translation - wait, I don't have to pay the full cost of the student? Has healthcare already? FREE FREE FREE labor to advisor) Earned undergrad degree while working full time and caring for a special-needs child? (translation - nothing here is going to knock this person off course) Truthfully speaking, almost everyone has a good story to tell. People are generally interesting to me and I think to others - especially the type of other people you would probably prefer to work with. Maybe I am being overly optimistic about it but maybe remember that grad school is not a magical place where only super-geniuses tread the halls (internal opinions on that may differ </slight sarcasm>).

CobaltFire 4y ago
You gave me my first honest laugh of the day, thanks! It's a chemo week, so those are in short supply. As for the actual content of your comment... I can see all of those. Never having walked those halls it's very much blind to me and statements like yours help demystify what I'm looking at. Every statement you made there is true: I have stable income, I have paid for health care, I have the GI Bill if needed, I know bureaucratic systems, I'm excellent at project management, and I don't give up or derail easily. Maybe I have a shot. I'll have to sit down and work out exactly what I want to pursue; I don't have long left in the season for applications.

CobaltFire 4y ago

You gave me my first honest laugh of the day, thanks! It's a chemo week, so those are in short supply. As for the actual content of your comment... I can see all of those. Never having walked those halls it's very much blind to me and statements like yours help demystify what I'm looking at. Every statement you made there is true: I have stable income, I have paid for health care, I have the GI Bill if needed, I know bureaucratic systems, I'm excellent at project management, and I don't give up or derail easily. Maybe I have a shot. I'll have to sit down and work out exactly what I want to pursue; I don't have long left in the season for applications.