Fat Envelope Watch

I had a nice chat with a USF School of Mass Communications faculty member today, prompting this entry. One, it occurred to me that I have never truly gone through an application process. Two, I am officially on Fat Envelope Watch.

When I was in high school, USF did the whole automatic admission thing during a trip to Sickles High School. Apparently I had a super awesome GPA and they were like, "Oh hai, we want you! Have some monies!" So, as a naive 18-year-old, I was like, "Alright. Cool." And that was it. (No, really. That was it. I think I applied to Stetson out of guilt because they kept sending me information, but otherwise, I never applied to any colleges or universities.)

Fast forward to 2007. After some hmm'ing and haa'ing on my part it was one Dr. Derina Holtzhausen who finalized my decision to go to grad school. Before I graduated in Dec. 2006, I swore I was done with school. (I'll give you a brief moment to laugh now, if you'd like.) Then, the day of my graduation, I realized I still wanted to learn. In Aug. 2007, I returned to USF, took a couple classes as a non-degree seeking student, and joined the ol' club. Now, a little less than three years later, I'm fully entrenched in the educational trenches. If you don't believe me, I spent some 15 hours on campus yesterday, working, teaching, and thesising. I mean business this semester. And truthfully, aside from being tired and whining in the evening, I actually had a relatively enjoyable day.

So anyway, I give all this background information because at 27 I am finally learning what high schoolers go through. I'm fighting this constant urge to e-mail the schools and ask, "Have you picked me?! Do you like me?! I like you! Let's hang out on Saturday." Directly related to this urge -- and what really tickled me about this morning's conversation -- was what I was told about the envelopes. If I receive a fat envelope, time to rejoice. If I receive a thin envelope I might want to "consider going inside and enjoying a glass of wine before opening the letter."

(Aside: I went looking for a graphic of a "fat envelope" and found Fat Envelope, a company of consultants who guide people through college admissions. Who knew? So I'm stealing their graphic and simultaneously marveling at this fat envelope concept.)

With that, it begins: We're officially on Fat Envelope Watch. I asked if funding (i.e.: cash) actually falls out of the envelope in celebratory fashion (apparently it doesn't), but even without that I will argue that looking out for fat envelopes seems much more exciting than looking out for regular letters.

- Mel(li) :)