Cornell.

Ok this post is my actual grad school decision... and yup, Cornell it is.

Doug the humanitarian suggested I factor out anything on my pros and cons list that was based in fear... that included half a dozen cons to Cornell and Ithaca... which were then replaced with one pro: facing my fears.

It was still a tough decision. I think I would have went to Vanderbilt if one professor had gotten back to me a bit sooner. I had tried reaching him a couple of weeks ago to see if I could work out a summer rotation, and he never called back... Come to find out he was in Japan and Singapore and would have had no problem taking me early. He was pretty disappointed I wasn't going to be there. I had thought he blew me off...

He tried to talk me out of it... I considered the fact that I hadn't signed anything at Cornell yet, and maybe I could still back out. But a department head had signed my paperwork this morning, and Tali managed to find out I was never really wait-listed for David Smith's lab... the long delay in my acceptance at Cornell was because the department wanted to see if I would be awarded the fellowship I received by the university. (Crappy life bonus).

So there it is. Please visit me in Ithaca. =)