Discombobulated

(This was the subject of my e-mail to Brad Harper, my dearest academic mentor and friend)

So a few things have occurred to make me academically discombobulated. Some of you may know that I recently added a Master's in Counseling to my program, mainly for "job security" upon graduation and to utilize some of my gifts that wouldn't otherwise be utilized in a strictly educational setting (there are some issues with that statement that I will let go un-addressed). I was thankful that the "what am I going to do with my life" question was starting to see some resolve.

But first I found out that Linda Cannell, a professor that I 70% came out here to sit under, will no longer be teaching here in the upcoming Fall. Although that has been hard for me to discover, it is actually a good thing for her and also this school. Yet in meeting with Steve Kang, my sole "academic mentor" out here, he told me that he felt like the counseling degree would not be good for me. What would be ideal for me, he declared, is a unique PhD program at Emory University called Person, Community, and Religious Life. After careful review, it does indeed look quite enjoyable (a good "plan B" -- or A would be this program at Vanderbilt). He told me that I would need to "straddle" my current program with another program from a school in the area, such as Boston College (MA in Applied Developmental & Educational Psychology), Boston University (MA in Human Development and Education), or Harvard (MA in Human Development and Psychology). Upon further financial consideration, I've decided that I can't do both GCTS and another program in the area -- I must choose one. He said that my theoretical interests just can't be fanned into flame at GCTS like they would elsewhere, which is dauntingly true. Speaking of daunting, I would need to learn German and French in order to even get into the program at Emory...

Sarah has been very supportive in either direction. It's been hard to be objective, so any input from cyberspace is helpful. It's hard because on the one hand, Steve knows my theoretical interests very well but not my background (and my desire for psychological healing). And yet... Brad Harper, who probably knows me best in all my mentors, strongly recommended the PhD program.

So basically we have some huge, life-altering decisions to make in the next month or two...

Prayer?