Montana State University

Another sunset photo.

I received an acceptance from the Montana State University physics department in the mail today.

It is odd, when I first started the application process I did not put too much consideration to location if the program worked for me; likewise if I liked the location I did not look as hard at the program. For Montana State I ignore the location and found the program to be really good. For the University of British Columbia I figured that I could find something in the department.

Now after going to the University of Washington that has a good department and location I am quite quickly dropping schools from consideration. Wisconsin is the big competition and that all depends on the visit. The University of New Hampshire looks really good but recently I have been trying to organize a day trip across New Hampshire and I find the lack of travel options to be discouraging and in a way negatively effecting my outlook for the University. Even though this is in no way related to the University.

When I lived in Scotland the physical distance was not much of a problem since I only went home once, now I realize that distance is a prime factor. A shorter distance or the presence of easy flights to California has now become a big part of my decision. I want to be able to return to California for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas without all day flights or horrendous layovers. And I can’t judge this aspect of a school until I actually fly in and travel to it on public transportation.

I still have not heard the full on official responses from British Columbia or Montana State (I have acceptances from the department only) nor have I heard anything from the Engineering Physics department of Wisconsin. Fortunately this won’t effect me too much.