It is visible from myriad angles, and is one of the most imposing edifices in sight. The city skyline is dominated by the massive bulk of Glasgow University (and in turn by the University tower): you see it from nearly everywhere, no matter where you might be. Sometimes it’s just faintly on the edge of vision, sometimes it looms just above us. We’ll be outside our normal haunts, and then look up and find it there, sort of hovering. In a way, our lives here are like that: we’ll be going along, working, reading, traveling … and then we pause and rediscover how much the University really does orient us in this place and define the shape of our days.
For instance: the traveling we do is, for the most part, University sponsored, allowing us to pay as little as £40 — or US $80 — for a 3-day trip to the Highlands, for example. We’ll be getting a hugely discounted membership at the University gym at some point, as our re-commitment to active living has shown us that we can’t do without some sort of indoor facility (since nobody should have to exercise in the dark/cold/wet). The Choral Society is part of the University, and of course D’s classes are there. The only pieces of our lives which are not wrapped about the University are our occasional forays into various neighborhood churches, T’s writing and D’s company… and D’s coworkers are willing to pretzel their requirements around his class schedule as much as he needs.
Our attachment to Glasgow University is under consideration at the moment because D has heard back about some of his scholarship applications, and has been passed over again. At this point there is still one major scholarship that is undecided: the Overseas Research Scholarship, which supplies about 80% of overseas tuition, to the tune of £7,000 / year (leaving the student to cover £2,000 – the same amount that a resident of the E.U. would pay).
As many frustrations as we’ve had, we’ve settled into our University-centric existence, and we’re wondering if what we’ve wanted to do here in the UK is going to work out… All of this chaos and change must have been worth something, we keep thinking. Many American college and university students are facing the same challenges, as the economy moves funding out of reach, and qualifying for loans becomes more difficult. We’re standing in the crossroads, feeling the University towering over us, and we’re and hoping and praying for this last scholarship to come through.
Perhaps because we weren’t really expecting to have a full ride through school (which is so NOT the way it’s done in the U.S., but which is apparently the thing here — we’ve heard that many students just don’t go to school if they don’t get funding!), we’re not as depressed as many of D’s classmates. A note from one this morning admitted, “I found out yesterday that I did not get the faculty scholarship. I had been shortlisted for it, but in the end no dice. I did not get the ORSAS [Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme] either, so I have no idea what I am going to do next. …At this point I just want to get…done.”
We plot our course, only to find the terrain change into something unrecognizable and unworkable. Stay tuned as we wait and see what the next turn might bring.
– D & T
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Hope David will get the ORS funding – I was only able to do my PhD because of that fellowship (Estonia hadn’t joined EU yet when I began my research).
Keeping my fingers crossed!
The full ride thing depends–I’m not going to get my MFA or PhD anywhere without full funding, and most major programs offer tuition waivers and nice stipends (well, nice enough to pay rent and eat at least).
I have my fingers crossed for the ORS!
Hope you get the ORS… Joel has that and that’s the only way we’re able to be here (plus I work so that covers the rent and all).
Ugh we are equally as frustrated/guilty that funding is so difficult and we aren’t able to make our own way through this education journey!
Keep updated. We’ll pray you get it. And you’re welcome to come to our church if you are interested (www.calvarychapel.org/glasgow) although we can’t help it but there are too many americans. 🙂
Thank you Pille, Jes, and Heather! I’m glad to know that Pille and Joel have received ORS funding, as that means that it does get awarded to real people!
Jes, as to the stipends … I think that might be the case in the US: it tends to be that, when you get into a program, funding comes with it, to some degree. That’s not the case here, unfortunately. I’ve been told that I could probably apply to Oxford and get in without too much trouble – the problem would be that I’d be funding myself there, more than likely. The way it was put to me was, “sure, they’ll admit you – and if you’re willing to pay, they’ll take your money.”
Oh, well – we’re waiting on the ORSAS thing, and anything else which may drop in. If it comes down to it, there are loans … but the idea of borrowing £27,000 ($54,000 US) is rather daunting!
And thank you, Heather, for the invitation – we may take you up on that one of these days!
Good luck with that!