This is becoming a trend...

Third rejection letter this week. Great Christmas Eve present. This time from University of Maryland-College Park. This means I'm only waiting to hear from two schools, U-T Austin and University of North Carolina School of the Arts (and I probably won't hear from either at this point until after the holidays). To be honest, I'm not keeping my hopes up at this point.

Won't lie, I'm pretty bummed. Starting to look around to see if there's anywhere I've missed that I should still try to apply to. Less and less certain about my career plans and goals and even less sure about what I'll be doing next year.

Trusting God is really hard for me right now, though given everything He's done for me and all the ways He's been faithful to me, it shouldn't be so hard! Looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family and trying to refocus on God's faithfulness and keeping my priorities and heart attitude focused on Him.

God is good. All the time. And two thousand years ago, He gave us the best present that makes all the difference. Praise God for that, no matter what else happens.

Strike Two...

I received a rejection email from the University of Colorado-Boulder today. There goes my first choice school...

I covet your continued prayers, please. I am trying to trust that God is doing what is best for me, but right now I don't really have a lot of trust. I'm starting to think of other things I could do next year if I don't get in anywhere, and I'm starting over the holidays to look around for some less competitive but still acceptable options that have later deadlines so that I could still apply.

Only three more to hear back from.

Hoping...

Here's a quick-but-long-overdue update on my grad school hunt...

Having had the door firmly closed for this year on moving to the UK for masters' studies, I pursued State-side options. After a long process of researching options, making spreadsheets to compare things, and mercilessly nixing school after school from my list, I sent off 5 applications at the end of November:

1) University of Colorado-Boulder
2) University of Texas-Austin
3) University of Maryland-College Park
4) University of North Carolina School of the Arts
5) University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)

I received my first rejection letter yesterday from UMKC. I was pretty disappointed. I'm trying to calmly accept that and move on, especially since it wasn't my first choice anyway. However, I'm starting to worry about the possibility that I won't get into any of the five--an actual possibility, not just paranoia, unfortunately. I'm trying to consider what my options will be if that happens, even as I hope and pray for admission somewhere and--more importantly--wisdom and God's clear leading about the next steps I should take as I walk with Him and seek to walk in His will for my life. Please join me in these prayers, as well as leaving comments with suggestions (serious or funny) of what I could do with next year if I don't get into grad school.
Thanks,
Emily