I have wanted to go to graduate school almost ever since I finished up my bachelor's degree in December 2001. The closest I came was in 2005 when I was admitted and given a three-year full scholarship to law school at the University of Arizona. I deferred for a year when Miriam was born but ultimately declined my spot because I am not one of those superwomen who can juggle multiple tiny children and full-time school, at least not with a husband who was pursuing his PhD at the same time. I felt confident in my decision to not go to law school but I always, always felt a lingering sadness about it.
That's partly why I've not mentioned anything about getting a master's degree until now, when I have actually bought a book and been to a class and have incontrovertible evidence of this being a reality. Almost as soon as we arrived in Sharjah in September, I started jumping through the many, many hoops to apply, get accepted, and then actually be enrolled and I am still fairly incredulous that it's all worked out.
I should have known it would be a difficult process to get the technicalities straightened out. A few months ago, I was talking casually with another faculty spouse here and she mentioned that instead of jumping through said hoops to transfer over credits from her unfinished bachelor's degree, she just started from scratch. I thought that was a rather wussy course of action until I had to go through it myself - proving to the UAE that I had a bachelor's degree (and high school diploma!) from a real, live educational institution in the USA. Now I totally see why she did that. It's as if God (and AUS) were constantly asking, "Bridget, how badly do you want this master's degree, hmmm?" Turns out I wanted it pretty badly.
There were the difficult hoops to jump through, like the paperwork and application essays. Then there were the easy ones that could still potentially trip me up, like when I had to take a modified version of the TOEFL written exam (a requirement for anyone in my program). I freely admit to being relieved when I found out I got a perfect score on it.
Today, sitting in class, it felt so good to be discussing something I love (my first class is Linguistics for EFL Teachers), with other enthusiastic people. For a few hours a week, I get to be taken seriously on my own terms. Not eclipsed by my children. Not introduced as a faculty spouse. Not dismissed as someone who "doesn't work outside the home" (don't get me started on that). I'm not saying there's anything wrong with any of those identities, at least not in moderation. But it's been so long since I've been able to do something just for myself that I find myself battling the "am I worth it?" dilemma all over again.
Now, the real question is, as a youngish female student at a university am I required to wear skinny jeans and flats/extreme high heels? That's all the kids wear around here these days (even under their abayas) and I want to make sure I do this the right way. It's been nine years since I've been a student and things have changed since then, you know. So I'd appreciate any tips.
PS - As much as I'd like to make this look like I'm doing it all by myself, the truth is it wouldn't be possible without Jeremy. He's the one who brought us to a university with a master's program in my field, and got us faculty housing on campus so that I can walk to class in eight minutes - and drop the kids off at his office on the way - and get a screaming deal on tuition. Thanks, love.