If there is one thing that I love about university, it's planning out all of the courses I'm going to take. At least once every semester (usually more than that) the master plan is revamped and updated according to what I liked or didn't like about a course I was taking, or some other great new idea I had. One of the best things about my degree is that it's so incredibly flexible that I have the room to do whatever I'd like. I just love my degree. I love it so much. And I'm president of our Student Association (sorry, sorry, but I am never going to get tired of saying that!).
Back to the point of this post (as there is a point), I was switching around my courses to suit the new master undergraduate plan and I started thinking about my master graduate plan (though I suppose I could just call it the 'Masters Plan', eh? Ha.). I decided to do something I'd been avoiding for weeks - checking the entry requirements. I mentioned a few posts ago that the newest graduate plan revolves around Glasgow's MLitt in Environment, Culture, and Communication. There are two major obstacles to the master graduate plan, the first being that I cannot in any way, shape, or form afford to go to Glasgow on international fees. I am seriously and horribly in debt going to Guelph on local fees. Ignoring that mountainous obstacle, the other issue was actually getting into this program, meaning whether or not my marks are good enough.
I used the university's US grade requirement (since I couldn't find any Canadian requirements), which meant taking all of my grades and calculating my American GPA. I made two discoveries. The first was that I actually, amazingly, meet the entrance requirements for this wonderful program. What. What? Still can't believe it. The second even more surprising discovery was that I'm on the Dean's Honours List!?!
To understand my amazement, you have to know that my grades have been atrocious since coming to university. I was one of those horror stories used to scare high school kids. I went from I think a 90-something average coming out of high school to a semester 1 average of 65%. I was passing. I didn't go crazy with the partying uni lifestyle or anything, I just couldn't seem to get the marks that I wanted. It had never been a problem before. In high school I put the effort in and got good grades, but in university that really wasn't working. The only thing I could think of to fix the issue was to work harder. And now, at the end of my second year, I'm on the Dean's Honours List. Job well done, me. Job well fucking done. (Apologies that this is turning into a super prideful post; I realize I'm essentially writing this to pat myself on the back.)
When I examined all of the data, I discovered (and had been vaguely aware previously) that since that horrible first semester my grades have been rising and my semesterly average has been increasing by about 5% each term (it's actually been a weirdly steady increase). This means that as of right now, after a very long and painful climb from essentially the bottom of the barrel, my marks could actually be considered decent. If I can keep it up then I should be able to graduate with a pretty good GPA, hopefully well above the entrance requirements, and with any luck at all, it'll get me into that MLitt program. Yeah! I still have no idea whatsoever how I could ever afford it, but if I can get accepted that's got to be the first step of this dream coming true. Yeah! So, in other words,
Dwarven Vow #16: You can do anything if you try.
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