So here's what happened...

After much soul-searching, I decided a while back not to go back to the U of M's faculty of Education. Instead, I applied to the Pre-Master's program with the intention of getting a Master's, and later a PhD in English.

It was Monday June 12th that I decided this, and the deadline for application was Thursday June 15th. My application package needed to include my academic transcripts, two letters of recommendation from previous English professors, a sample of my academic writing, as well as the completed application forms. Jan and I were leaving for a road trip on Tuesday morning. Yikes.

I searched my hard drive frantically for a suitable piece of writing. It's been three years since I was taking undergraduate English classes, and our computer has undergone some drastic internal surgery since then. I didn't have anything I was proud to attach my name to. I contemplated writing a new piece. Then it occured to me that one of my former professors, Sue Sorensen, from whom I took a class on British and Irish Literature, had liked an essay I wrote on T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland so much that she had saved it. Maybe she could forward a copy to the U of M on my behalf?

I called another of my previous English professors, Paul Dyck, and begged for a letter of reference. He told me I could pick it up from his house on Tuesday morning. So Jan and I would stop by the U of M on our way out of town, drop off the letter, pick up the application forms. I could fill them out on the road, and could fax it on Tuesday evening from Jan's parents' place in Saskatoon.

I wrote an e-mail to Sue, begging for a letter of reference from her, and begging her to forward a copy of my T.S. Eliot essay. And finally, to hedge my bets I sent an e-mail to the only other English prof I've ever had, Mark Fortier, from whom I took a class on John Milton. I wasn't even sure if he would even remember me, as I was only one student in a class of 30 four years ago, but I had very much enjoyed the class, and I figured it was worth a try.

We headed west, stopping by the Dyck household and U of M on our way. At casa de Oatway I faxed in my application and faxed U of M and CMU a request to send my transcripts and to put a rush on it. It was Tuesday night, they were due by Thursday, and they claimed it took 2-4 days. If it was 2, I would be fine. If it was 4, I would be too late.

On Wednesday we moved further west, and it was out of my hands.

When we got back in Winnipeg there was a message on my answering machine saying that the English department had received my application and all related materials except my transcripts. They would give me a few days' grace, they said.

And then I heard nothing.

According to the U of M website, graduate students needed to be registered by mid-July.

It was July and I heard nothing.

July came near its end, and still I heard nothing. No rejection letter, but no acceptance letter either.

I called the English chair and asked "Yo! What's the deal?"

They were a little behind on notifying people this year, I was informed. But when I received my acceptance letter I should call to set up an appointment.

August rolled around. Still I heard nothing.

Then, this Thursday I got a letter from the University of Manitoba informing me that I had been accepted into the pre-Master's program.

I'M IN! YAHOO!