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Yesterday, I received an email from Kathy Westberg at THE Oregon State University telling me that I had been awarded the "Laurels Block" scholarship for civil engineering graduate students. This scholarship, for which I had to do little in addition to my application than just submit a paper that said I wanted to apply for it, covers the full costs of out-of-state tuition and fees for three quarters. Under this scholarship, I could take whatever classes I wanted that applied toward the Master of Science (Thesis/Project) or the Master of Engineering (Coursework Only) degrees. Considering the course scheduling that's available at Oregon State, I could probably finish either master's degree in four quarters, meaning that I would need to take an additional quarter beyond the scope of the scholarship. The cost of out-of-state tuition for a single, full-time quarter is about $6,000, which isn't bad at all as long as there's only one of them. In addition, it would be possible that I could procure some sort of assistantship for that final quarter that would provide additional funding.

This doesn't all mean that I will necessarily be booking it to Corvallis this coming fall. There is still a possibility that I could get funding from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and I haven't heard back from Virginia Tech that I won't be getting funding, though it seems unlikely. I have to make a decision on this scholarship by April 15th, so my prediction that I'd make my decision by mid-April was eerily accurate.

Here's hoping all this wasn't just an April Fools Day joke.

Edit: [It was not an April Fools joke. Now busting out the sparkling cider. :D]
Edit: [New grad school odds, as of 4-3-11: Oregon State - 3:2, CU Boulder - 4:1, BYU - 30:1, Virginia Tech - 36:1, Washington - 90:1, UCLA - 90:1.]

Think Again

APRIL FOOLS!!! In case you were at all wondering, the blag post immediately before this one is completely and totally fallacious in every way. The only truth in that post was that the application deadline for the University of SPEWtah's CE department was in April 1st. Now let's review some facts:

• FACT: I did not apply to the University of Utah for graduate school.
• FACT: I have never actually set foot on the University of Utah campus.
• FACT: I hate Utah. I hate everything about them.
• FACT: Utah's Civil Engineering program is actually ranked #48 in the nation according to US News and World Report.
• FACT: I was actually totally unimpressed by the U's Civil Engineering program and research.
  
• FACT: I will never apply to Utah for anything, unless it's a contract to blow the whole thing to the ground.
• FACT: The dude on the right-hand sidebar of the U's Civil Engineering Website looks like a child molester.
• FACT: None of the people in the pictures on the U's website looked all that attractive.
• FACT: Red is the color of Satan.
• FACT: 26-23
• FACT: I will be a die-hard Cougar until the day I die.
• FACT: I am currently wearing my, "Friends Don't Let Friends go to the U of U" shirt.
• FACT: This symbol kicks trash:

Interestingly enough, after a full day of lies, treachery and deceit, I feel closer to the spirit of the University of Utah. It's kind of sad, I feel like I need to wash my hands clean from sin... After this experience I think I'm going to be wearing all my BYU gear for 3 days straight... and maybe burning my "Utes" t-shirt. :D

A Revelation

All 4 people who read my blag will know that I've recently been considering where I should go to grad school for civil engineering. I've previously been planning on postponing this decision slightly, but the recent epic nose-dive of death in the economy has caused me to move up some of the decisions that I've been considering. I've been planning on working for a few years before I even start applying to grad schools, but my lack of possible job prospects has lead my to look into grad school as more of a short-term option.

Today I had an interesting thought: "Let's just see where those skanks up at the U of U are ranked in terms of civil engineering grad schools." When I looked up the University of Utah on several ranking sites, I found that they were ranked anywhere from 6th to 24th nationally. Needless to say I was shocked that a school in which I could qualify for in-state tuition would be ranked so high. I figured that it was worth at least looking into the Civil Engineering Program at the U, since it is so close by. What I found was interesting to say the least. I found that they have a very good program for things about which I am passionate in civil engineering. Their classes and research for bridge design and the use of prestressed concrete were awesome, and I liked their program for water resources, hydrology, and hydraulics.

I also looked up when the application deadlines for both fall and winter semester, and it turns out that the application deadline for fall 2010 is... drum roll... today. I figured that I would not be able to apply for this fall since I have not yet taken the GRE. I continued reading on the University of Utah's civil engineering website and found that candidates for non-thesis master's degrees who had GPAs above 3.2 could apply without a GRE score. Sensing that the opportunity was mine to grab by the man-parts, I decided that I could finish the application in one day. The online portion of the application was easy... getting my official transcripts and letters of recommendation up to Salt Lake in time was another story. Nevertheless, I conquered and got all of my application materials up there in time.

While I was on the campus of the U, I decided that I fairly like the environment there. There weren't any drunkards or skanks walking around. The people there just seemed relatively normal. I also looked around the facilities of their engineering building on campus and rather liked what I saw. I mean, it wasn't some masterpiece of architecture, but I enjoyed my brief stay there.

I know this would be a rather drastic change of pace for me. I've been bashing on Utah ever since I started going to BYU, but I just think that I would enjoy the environment and academics going there for grad school. If I did end up going there, I'm not sure I could ever advocate University of Utah football and would probably still cheer for BYU when they played each other. Overall, I just think that the University of Utah wouldn't be too bad of a place to go to school after all. :)

[For all reading this post at this point, check its date. Yeah, April Fools. ;) ]