Regarding my decision to go to graduate school at OSU as opposed to Columbia

It has been a long long time since I last blogged. I was distracted by another blog (sorry for this infidelity, my dear Painting) and an issue of grave importance. All of my work at applying to graduate school culminated in my being accepted to Columbia's MA program in Sociology. A dream come true no? Casey and I had been struggling with the idea of staying in Columbus for two more years, and we both wanted to move to NYC.

Well no actually. Below is the email I received from Columbia in regards to admittance. Note that I only received this email of admittance after having emailed the school in the middle of April to get the status of my application. In other words, they had simply forgotten to notify me.

Dear Mr. Adams,

I am sorry that you have not received notification of your admission status... The faculty admissions committee in Sociology, unfortunately, was unable to offer you admission to the PhD program. However, you and a select few other applicants were offered admission to the Master of Arts degree program. The department could enroll only 7 new PhD students this year and thus many fine applicants could not be offered admission to the PhD. And this year, because of the financial situation, we has to cut back the number of offers of admission. But since your application showed promise, the faculty offered admission to the MA program.

Great, I thought! I cannot tell you the sheer joy I experienced upon receiving this email. This was it. It was perfect. I was going to Columbia, an Ivy League school. No one could refuse me admittance into a PhD program with the brandname of Columbia on my CV. And Casey and I would move and all would be glorious.

Then, reality sunk in. First, the program I was admitted to was the free standing masters program, and it was designed for business people (gag) and public policy makers. Why was I admitted to this program in the first place? I have absolutely no experience whatsoever in anything practical or applied. I only know theory.

Further, the program was unfunded. The tuition for the one year was lower than expected... only $17K, which I feel is a manageable and even reasonable amount of debt for a masters degree. However, combined with the exorbitant cost of living in NYC and the fact that I later discovered that my bf would not be able to move with me right away, so I would have to find roommates or pay for a closet on my own, makes this choice less glamorous. In fact, I might be committing financial suicide by going there.

The job situation is tenuous enough right now. To move to NY without any prospect for a job is frankly foolish for me. And even if I were to get a job or two, (which I would have to do!!) most of my time then would be spent on making money to keep afloat in the city, not on graduate work, which should be my number 1 focus right now. All of these difficulties are exacerbated by the fact that the Columbia program is one year... simply not enough time to produce a glorious, publishable thesis that could guarantee admittance into a FUNDED PhD program.

Then there is good old OSU. I received their admittance letter the day I returned from Africa. OSU is relatively cheap, Columbus is so so so cheap, and the geography program here is top 5 in the nation. Also, the MA here is research and theory oriented, so I don't have to worry about all that practical applicaiton bs. I'll have two comfortable years in which I can apply to PhD programs and produce a kick ass thesis. Also, I was recently rehired by WOSU to answer phones and do research for Open Line. This is such a great job!! :) I get paid next to nothing, but it is 20 hours a week, M-F (so weekends off.. yay to cheap beer at Bodega happy hour) and I love it. What more can you ask for honey?? (As my gma would say.)

I still get sick to my stomach when I think about throwing away the opportunity at Columbia. Was this my chance to make the transition to New York and get my foot in the door of a top ranked school/program? Maybe. Am I throwing it away? I look at it as putting into a treasure chest and locking it up for a couple of years, and then getting it out and seizing the opportunity when I have funding and can actually afford NYC (and by afford, I still mean struggle to survive on a stipend of 23k when at least half of it will go to rent.)

And I am in such a zen place right now. I am happy here in Columbus. I have a lovely apartment, I can comfotably afford to splurge every now and then. And I have my bf as a partner crime. I think this is a much more conducive environment to academic/intellectual stimulation than waiting tables 12 hours a day to just make rent.

So there's my explanation and justification for not accepting Columbia's offer. You may call me a fool. Maybe even complacent (please don't call me that, it's my biggest fear in the world.) But in the end, Columbus and OSU just feel right right now.

"When you get the blanket thing, you can relax, because everything you could ever want or be, you already have and are." - Bernard Jaffe, I Heart Huckabees

Neotraditional Kinship Structure: Making NYC Affordable

I was washing myself in the shower this morning when I finally discovered a way to reconcile my immense love for NYC and my belief in frugality and living within one's means. Living with other people!!

It's quite obvious, isn't it? If the average cost of a studio apartment is $2500 per month, then you can just split it among four or five people to be able to afford it. Of course, then no one has much space, and you'll always be up in everyone else's grill. And this has always been a major turn off to me, especially since I've been with my boyfriend, because who wants to share such a small space with others? It's annoying and uncomfortable.

I do appreciate the values of the Bohemian lifestyle, of living simply and small, but in New York, unless you make more than 100k per year, you really are POOR. But the great thing about living with other people in a small space is that it replaces, in some small way, the vast kinship structures that humans have been accustomed to living in for thousands of years. This is what dawned on me this morning in my rushed shower.

Granted, you must become close to your roommates. They can not be anonymous people who simply come and go from a common dwelling. They have to be or become people you care about, and who take care of each other. Sort of like Friends, but less romantic and more poverty stricken. That way, if you lose your job at the local coffee shop, they can pay for rent themselves until you are able to repay them, with the understanding that you would do the same for them. Not only would this neotraditional kinship structure provide you with a financial safety net in these hard economic times, but it would also provide you with a handful of close fulfilling relationships that could be had in no other circumstances.

It is with this justification that I plan to move to New York, especially if I get into NYU or Columbia. I may look back ten years from now, and realize how wrong I was to be so naive and believe that big city anonymity and hardship could be overcome in such a simple way. But at least I will have tried... and it's much easier when you give yourself an ideological foundation on which to move.

Or if your rich, you can just buy this $50 million loft with a breathtaking view of Central Park... bastards!

New York: The Most Expensive City

Will I ever be able to realize my dream of becoming a New Yorker? Probably not... at least not in a financially comfortable way. Read Paying the Price for Living in New York  by Courtney Gross from the Gotham Gazette:

"New Yorkers already pay a high price to live here, and the cost of everything from a subway ride to tap water keeps going up."

Also, check out escapebrooklyn.blogspot.com for the perspective of a woman's plan to escape NYC. It is really well done; I am frankly jealous of her page. She moved to Brooklyn (supposedly the cheap part of New York) years ago, loved it at first, and now realizes she can't get ahead financially, despite a career in nonprofit. It is painful and depressing to read her count out every last penny she spends. Maybe New York isn't for me....