SCOOP THAT BLOOP

Hello family. I'm sorry it has been such a long time since I've blogged. I have no valid excuses. I will be accepting all forms of punishment offered for these offenses. I have been doing the facebook thing quite a bit and usually run out of computer interest and energy long before I get to my blog. Tonight I remembered that I have solidified my list of dream grad schools and I promised I would share it when I finished. I based my choices on what I found (through extensive research... ugh) to be realistically attainable schools based on skill sets/levels, programs of interest, budget/scholarship availability/geographic location, and other small factors. This list has been carefully chiseled down from an original collection of 70-some-odd schools. It took a long time to research and compare all those programs, so please bother to read through it, just so that I feel like I achieved something with all of that work. Here it is, in general order of interest:

1) Mills College (Oakland, CA) - MFA Choreography
2) Roehampton University (London, England) - MFA Choreography or MA Dance Therapy
3) University of Oregon (Eugene, OR) - MFA Choreography
4) Lesley University (Cambridge, MA) - MA Dance Therapy
5) Bennington College (Bennington, VT) - MFA Performing Arts, Self-Directed Path
6) UC Riverside (Riverside, CA) - MFA Experimental Choreography
7) University of Colorado (Boulder, CO) - MFA Choreography
8) SU of NY, Brockport (Brockport, NY) - MFA Choreography
9) Smith College (Northhampton, MA) - MFA Choreography
10) University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) - MFA Choreography
11) Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) - MFA Choreography
12) Naropa University (Boulder, CO) - MA Somatic Counseling
13) Columbia College (Chicago, IL) - MA Movement Therapy

With luck, I will be living at or near one of these universities for the next three years of my life. Keep your fingers crossed or pray or do a rain dance or special jig or whatever it is that you do to win favor with fate and the gods of grad school admissions boards. I'll be pretty seriously bummed if I don't make it into at least ONE of these 13 schools (after all, it will cost nearly $1,000 just to APPLY to all these places, and that's not including travel expenses... because guess what dancers have to do in addition to all the usual application junk... AUDITION!!! and typically in person - so if you're considering gifting me something this holiday season, just slip me a fiver and I'll be happy as a clam). But my backup plan is to apply for the MA of Education here at CSUF (ugh) and/or go to massage therapy school. Those are last resorts, though. Not at all what I really want, but what I could live with for a while. Wish me luck. Or, as we say in dance, "MERDE"!!! Love you.
~Laura