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today's moment of BLINDING PANIC ...
... has been brought to you by the letter G.
It's actually quite the meandering story.
So today is payday. Bueno. I record my direct deposit in the ol' checkbook, and I go to pay the cell phone bill. Wonder why those guys don't cut me off, since I don't pay the bill on anything like a monthly basis. Go to pay the Visa bill. Yikes! Christmas presents, and the trip to Florida, have made this a big fat Visa bill, and grad school applications have made this a skinny little bank balance, so that ain't happening just yet. Will deposit Christmas gift money, which -- combined with a little graft from the savings account -- should both cover the Visa bill and keep me afloat until the next paycheck, out of which must come the rent. Terrific.
Let's go over this checkbook balance, just to be sure.
Oh, gee. Not only does the bank say we have about $200 less than we say we have -- and that's after I've subtracted the cell phone bill and they haven't, so make that closer to $300 the bank doesn't think I have -- but two checks haven't yet cleared!
Remind self that actually, the cell phone bill and the two uncleared checks sort of cancel each other out, so the difference between what I think the balance is and what the bank thinks the balance is comes out to about the $200 it looked like originally.
Take moment to be appalled that a $200 gap seems like Pretty Good Math.
Examine checkbook to see which checks haven't cleared. One is last month's phone bill -- but Verizon is stupid, and that'll clear just fine.
The other is a grad school application fee.
[beat]
Let me repeat that.
The other is a grad school application fee. ONE OF THE CHECKS THAT DIDN'T CLEAR WAS A GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATION FEE. More specifically, the application fee for my first-choice graduate program has not yet cleared.
Don't panic. Nothing to be gained by panicking. (Panic anyway, but try to talk self out of it.) Recall that application materials and check went to two separate addresses. Remember that application itself was actually submitted online (with rec letters, transcripts, etc. sent in dead-tree format). Hasten to university's website to check status of application.
Application was submitted 12/27/01. University last modified file 1/14/02. Hey, that was yesterday. See neat list of tick-marks identifying parts of application received by university and entered into database. First on list is "Application Fee." Thank god. Application, personal statement, signed certification, yes, great, looks like everything's in order -- prepare to heave great sigh of relief -- waitaminit.
The boxes next to "transcripts" are empty. No tick-marks.
But I made the request for transcripts before Thanksgiving. I got written confirmation from both my undergraduate university and my year-abroad university that official transcripts (or Official Letters, since the Brits don't do the transcript thing) had been sent. I sent an international money order!
How can my transcripts still be outstanding? How can this be?! It's January 15, and all materials were supposed to be received January 4! This is my top choice program! Why the hell can't I find a phone number where I can call them?!
Find phone number. Call department. Say I'm a little concerned about the status of my application. Get reassured by pleasant woman on phone (department administrator, I guess) that there are hundreds of documents still to be entered in database. She asks what my worry is. I tell her that as of yesterday, my transcripts were still outstanding, which can't be right, because I had them sent in like --
Wait on hold for a minute as she goes to pull my file. She returns. Yes, she has the transcripts from my undergraduate university; does she have the transcripts from my study abroad? They should be Official Letters. But she doesn't seem to have anything from that university. She has things from This-Here University and something from This Address. That's it! This Address is the administrative address for University Abroad. It would be easy to confuse it with the name of This-Here University, since they start out sounding just the same. So she has them both. Excellent. They arrived yesterday, which is why they aren't in the database yet.
They arrived yesterday? But how can that be? I had them sent before -- well, that doesn't matter, because there's some sort of "Received" stamp on them, at least on the envelopes, right? So it's clear that they came in before the deadline.
She doesn't know about that. She only knows they arrived in her office yesterday.
But -- but is that okay? The deadline was January 4, and I know the stuff had to be there before then, and what if there's no way to prove it?
The deadlines are a tiny bit flexible. There are some documents they have to receive before they can start processing anything -- so if the transcripts are the first thing to arrive, they sit there until some Mission Critical document turns up. Bottom line: not to worry, the application is fine, it'll be considered, no need to fret, have a nice day.
Hang up phone. Take deep breath. Remember story about friend of friend (with whom am slightly acquainted, so know this is not urban legend) who didn't get into a Very Prestigious Grad School in Boston because one of his letters of recommendation arrived something like two days after the deadline. He was later told that he would almost certainly have gotten in that year, had his application been timely.
Try to imagine what I would do in such situation. Wish had not quit smoking.
[/Bridget Jones]
So everything's okay now, apparently. Except that my bank balance is still off by two hundred clams. And I'll have to raid the savings account to pay the Visa bill and the rent.
Oh, well. The less I have in assets, the more likely I am to get a fellowship. Right?
It's actually quite the meandering story.
So today is payday. Bueno. I record my direct deposit in the ol' checkbook, and I go to pay the cell phone bill. Wonder why those guys don't cut me off, since I don't pay the bill on anything like a monthly basis. Go to pay the Visa bill. Yikes! Christmas presents, and the trip to Florida, have made this a big fat Visa bill, and grad school applications have made this a skinny little bank balance, so that ain't happening just yet. Will deposit Christmas gift money, which -- combined with a little graft from the savings account -- should both cover the Visa bill and keep me afloat until the next paycheck, out of which must come the rent. Terrific.
Let's go over this checkbook balance, just to be sure.
Oh, gee. Not only does the bank say we have about $200 less than we say we have -- and that's after I've subtracted the cell phone bill and they haven't, so make that closer to $300 the bank doesn't think I have -- but two checks haven't yet cleared!
Remind self that actually, the cell phone bill and the two uncleared checks sort of cancel each other out, so the difference between what I think the balance is and what the bank thinks the balance is comes out to about the $200 it looked like originally.
Take moment to be appalled that a $200 gap seems like Pretty Good Math.
Examine checkbook to see which checks haven't cleared. One is last month's phone bill -- but Verizon is stupid, and that'll clear just fine.
The other is a grad school application fee.
[beat]
Let me repeat that.
The other is a grad school application fee. ONE OF THE CHECKS THAT DIDN'T CLEAR WAS A GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATION FEE. More specifically, the application fee for my first-choice graduate program has not yet cleared.
Don't panic. Nothing to be gained by panicking. (Panic anyway, but try to talk self out of it.) Recall that application materials and check went to two separate addresses. Remember that application itself was actually submitted online (with rec letters, transcripts, etc. sent in dead-tree format). Hasten to university's website to check status of application.
Application was submitted 12/27/01. University last modified file 1/14/02. Hey, that was yesterday. See neat list of tick-marks identifying parts of application received by university and entered into database. First on list is "Application Fee." Thank god. Application, personal statement, signed certification, yes, great, looks like everything's in order -- prepare to heave great sigh of relief -- waitaminit.
The boxes next to "transcripts" are empty. No tick-marks.
But I made the request for transcripts before Thanksgiving. I got written confirmation from both my undergraduate university and my year-abroad university that official transcripts (or Official Letters, since the Brits don't do the transcript thing) had been sent. I sent an international money order!
How can my transcripts still be outstanding? How can this be?! It's January 15, and all materials were supposed to be received January 4! This is my top choice program! Why the hell can't I find a phone number where I can call them?!
Find phone number. Call department. Say I'm a little concerned about the status of my application. Get reassured by pleasant woman on phone (department administrator, I guess) that there are hundreds of documents still to be entered in database. She asks what my worry is. I tell her that as of yesterday, my transcripts were still outstanding, which can't be right, because I had them sent in like --
Wait on hold for a minute as she goes to pull my file. She returns. Yes, she has the transcripts from my undergraduate university; does she have the transcripts from my study abroad? They should be Official Letters. But she doesn't seem to have anything from that university. She has things from This-Here University and something from This Address. That's it! This Address is the administrative address for University Abroad. It would be easy to confuse it with the name of This-Here University, since they start out sounding just the same. So she has them both. Excellent. They arrived yesterday, which is why they aren't in the database yet.
They arrived yesterday? But how can that be? I had them sent before -- well, that doesn't matter, because there's some sort of "Received" stamp on them, at least on the envelopes, right? So it's clear that they came in before the deadline.
She doesn't know about that. She only knows they arrived in her office yesterday.
But -- but is that okay? The deadline was January 4, and I know the stuff had to be there before then, and what if there's no way to prove it?
The deadlines are a tiny bit flexible. There are some documents they have to receive before they can start processing anything -- so if the transcripts are the first thing to arrive, they sit there until some Mission Critical document turns up. Bottom line: not to worry, the application is fine, it'll be considered, no need to fret, have a nice day.
Hang up phone. Take deep breath. Remember story about friend of friend (with whom am slightly acquainted, so know this is not urban legend) who didn't get into a Very Prestigious Grad School in Boston because one of his letters of recommendation arrived something like two days after the deadline. He was later told that he would almost certainly have gotten in that year, had his application been timely.
Try to imagine what I would do in such situation. Wish had not quit smoking.
[/Bridget Jones]
So everything's okay now, apparently. Except that my bank balance is still off by two hundred clams. And I'll have to raid the savings account to pay the Visa bill and the rent.
Oh, well. The less I have in assets, the more likely I am to get a fellowship. Right?
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