As Time Goes By

On the heels of my last post, this one feels a little silly.

I’m trying not to be impatient about the next official steps in preparing for this fall, but I have to admit to getting a little antsy. HP’s financial aid department was up-front with prospectives about the time line for aid letters: they said it would be mid-April at the earliest, but more likely early- to mid-May. So, it being May 3rd, I’m not exactly worried that I haven’t heard from the school in a while. They have my initial deposit, my FAFSA, and I told the Assistant Dean of Admissions personally that I was definitely attending (I know that last one is the least weighty of the list, as I don’t expect him to have any recollection of the conversation). The orientation website still has last year’s information on it. So I’m not really worried that I’ve missed something, or that somehow my name has been lost from The List (whatever list that may be). But I like to see progress, however slow, and it’s been over a month since my last contact from the school. It’s silly, but it makes me a little nervous.

To ease my (unreasonable) anxiety, I’ve been seeking out what information I can. I found the academic calendar for next year, which lists exact orientation dates. That helps me know when I’ll have to move, and thus when I’ll have to leave my job. I also looked up the course schedule for the fall. I probably shouldn’t admit this (it will make me seem crazier and more OCD than I like to pretend I am), but I made color-coded spreadsheets for all of the 1L section schedules. I experimentally added in study time and lunch breaks to see what my basic schedule would look like for each section. I know I won’t have any idea about section assignments until late July, most likely, but I can’t help it. I like to plan. I don’t delude myself into thinking that any of this will help me succeed, but it can’t be worse than watching The Paper Chase (which I did yesterday, finally. It was…interesting).

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