Going for the gusto

I just went ahead and did it. What's the worst that can happen? They say "No"?

I sat down last night and figured out what questions to ask admissions today when I called for an appointment. I looked at the transfer specifics and at the amount of credits I would need to take to get my Bachelor's from Western. Here's how it boils down:

If I were to go to Whatcom for another year to get my requirements in, I'd have the 116 credits I will have accumulated by the end of this year, plus 45 credits from next year, which would make 161 credits in total. Of those 161 credits, only 135 would be eligible for transfer, making 26 credits (close to 2 full quarters) completely useless. If the argument is that staying at Whatcom to take the credits before I head to Western would save me money, the actuality is that I would be spending close to $2,400 more in the long run, by making those two quarters obsolete. The second part of the equation is that I need to have a minimum of 90 credits taken through Western to be able to get my Bachelor's from there. At 15 credit quarters, it would take me two full years of taking classes to get the 90 credits I'd need. If I have to take a year at Whatcom and then take 2 years at Western, I'm looking at another 3 years to finish my degree, without even considering Grad school. I have already been pushing through so hard, I'd really like to just keep pushing through at the same pace, and get my degree by the time I'm turning 33. That also gives me a good time frame for (gasp) kids, if we're ready to have them by then. If I add that extra year, we're looking at me being around 35 or 36 when we have our first kid, and that's really a few years later than I'm comfortable with.

Then again, this all could be idle speculation. I may not even get in. The admissions department may get my application among all the others who are hopeful of getting in for Fall, and they may laugh and shake their heads at my audacity.

But I have to try. If I don't try, the option is feeling like I gave up before I even found out what I was capable of.

So, I wrote my admissions essay, and I had John read it. I'm going to ask a couple of other people to read it, too, and then if it seems like it's all good, I'll email it in tomorrow, along with my financial need waiver that says I can't afford the application fee, and we'll go from there.

And now, I'm supposed to be somewhere that I just remembered, just this minute.