A Mix of Tasks

Before getting into what is going on in my life, I'd like to throw out another big congrats to all of you who have been accepted by Penn GSE and other schools of your choice! You are about to embark on another brand new journey with lots of opportunities for almost everything, and I sincerely wish you the best!

As for me, the time here as a master's student is running out. Regardless of how much I have tried to make the most of my time here during the past seven months, there is still so much more that I would like to do yet unsure about whether I will get a chance before moving onto the next chapter of my life.

In 25 days, I will finally be able to fulfill my whole family's dream of me getting a master's degree from Penn! I will also get to have some decent amount of sleep and rest, although usually when the opportunities come, I am somehow too hyper to actually do so. But the thought and potential count, I guess!

With the limited amount of time I have left, there is still much to be done! I have one group presentation and two individual presentations to finish by next week. I also have four papers of different length requirements to complete by the end of this month. My goal, however, is to get everything (at least a draft for everything) done by the end of this week so that I can devote more time in my job applications.

That said, the job hunting process has been going steadily, but I'd like to speed up the process on my end. I haven't got too much time to apply for too many jobs yet, but with what I have done and the responses I am getting, it is actually quite encouraging. I had an interview last week, and another one this week, and I am definitely going to apply for a couple more starred in my inbox. :) I have seen more and more positions advertised lately, so I am very excited to start applying.

@ the Masquerade Ball 

On the social life side, things are getting more and more exciting as well. We just had a GSE/Wharton Spring Formal Masquerade Ball. Starting in about 1.5 weeks, more and more graduation-related celebrations or events will also take place. That's one big motivation for me to get things done as soon as I can so that I can get into the celebration mood without worrying about completing my academic works!

On top of all the above, my parents are also coming from China in less than 20 days!!! Last time I saw them was a year ago, so I am very excited, and would like to get some summer planning started to get ready to host them.

Well, I will blog again soon! I should probably get back to finishing the paper I was working on so that I don't have to stay up too late tonight.

Until next time,
All the best!

Graduating next month?!

I don't even remember how many times I have blogged about how time flies, but it is truly how I have been feeling most of the time during this program. Time flies when you are having fun, and time flies when you are constantly busy with something...

Recently, Alexis and I have been working very hard to put together an entire day full of events for this Friday's Preview Day for Accepted Master's Students. One of the main reasons why I love my assistantship at the Admissions Office is the opportunity to connect with prospective students, accepted students, and students that are enrolled! It is always fun for me to share my perspectives and experiences, and always a joy to organize an event that can help students in one way or another.

That said, it is definitely a bittersweet time for me whenever I think about graduating next month. I am ready to be done with writing academic papers for a while, but I am not really ready to leave my assistantship, mainly because of the people that I have been working so closely with for these past eight months. My supervisor Alyssa, and everyone else have been treating Alexis and me as part of the professional team, and have been very supportive of our professional development, so it is just sad for me to realize that I won't get to see them on a daily basis in the very near future. Therefore, to cope with my sadness during this time, I am cherishing every opportunity I still have to work for the office. :)

Anyway, I will post detailed reflections upon my assistantship and this program overall in my future blogs, since I need to write a couple papers about them for my classes anyways. Stay tuned!