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Oy. I've spent a lot of time over the last few days considering my options and working on my spreadsheets to determine how much money I need to make to not go bankrupt after graduation. After I calmed down a little from the paranoia and I changed a mistake I had made, I realized I need to make less money than I thought. Wonderful. It also helped to go to the websites of the banks/agencies that issued my loans and get some repayment option calculations. I now have a much better ballpark of what my monthly student loan payments will be, which makes me feel a thousand times better about, well, everything. Maybe I'll get by after all.
The option I'm not considering is moving to Boston after graduation regardless of having found a job there by that point. At first, this option seemed entirely out of the question to me, but after talking to a few people, maybe it might be the best option after all. I was worried about signing a lease and then being stuck with it for a year, even if I never find a job. But, it was pointed out to me that I could just sublet or rent on a monthly basis for the summer or something. Limiting my risk on rent is huge, I think. And, one thing I'm realizing is that I'm probably at a disadvantage by not having a Massachusetts/Boston address. Moving to Boston and having that to back me up would be really helpful. Maybe companies aren't interviewing me because they see I don't currently live there. I've definitely gotten several questions regarding wanting a job in Boston but being in New York or from Illinois from employers. Plus, with Adam's wedding in the middle of June in Rochester and all of my stuff being here and needing all of my stuff out East eventually (hopefully).... it doesn't make sense to me to go back to Illinois. The problem is, I have to figure out how to pay for it. I'm certainly glad that I payed off my credit cards now.
Tonight I also spent time doing my taxes, sorta. Because all of my W-2's go to my house in Illinois, my mom does my federal and Illinois returns for me. I've worked in other states, though, so I have to fill out non-resident forms for them (New York and Maine this year), which usually means I have to also change the Illinois return as well. My mom likes to put off the taxes for a long time, though, and so I never get the information I need until like 2 days before April 15th. This is annoying, so I took advantage of the fact that I save all of my pay stubs, found the last one for the respective employer for the year, and calculated tentative amounts for all of the returns. Once I get the real information (which shouldn't be any different) I'll actually fill out the forms and send them off. By my calculations, my net return this year is around $360. Getting money back is fun.
In other news, I got some midterms back today... A- and B+, go me. It's nice to know that I'm doing well in my classes, especially because I feel like I've been out of it for the last 3 weeks and need to play some catchup. And because my project is going to suck the life outta me for the next 6 weeks. Tentative presentation date in Boston: May 14th. Since that's a Friday, maybe I'll stick around for the weekend and celebrate the end of the project with the Boston friends before coming back to Ithaca for my last 2 finals (maybe ever). And then hopefully I'll be back in Boston soon after that. Wow, everything is happening so soon!
I also got an email from one of my professors today. I had filled out a survey in class and had mentioned that I've been sick and so I feel like I'm behind. The professor looked me up in his class database, I guess, found my email address, and took the time to email me, expressing concern. It was really nice. He also knows I'm an OR student, because he asked me a question about OR enrollment. I'm sure I put all of this information on a sheet at the beginning of the semester, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see him take the time to make sure I'm doing well. It made me feel very good about the quality of professors here. Well, that and the final extension I got last semester. And my advisor. In 5 years, I've gone through my time here at Cornell kinda on my own, not taking advantage of office hours or anything, really, and thinking that the professors don't care so much about the students. And it's only this year, my 5th year and really optional year, that I'm realizing how cool some of the professors are. It's really brought my opinion of Cornell up a lot, which is impressive, because most of the this year has made me not want to be here anymore (but that's more because I've been here so long).
I took a 3 hour nap tonight, which I didn't mean to do and was probably a mistake. I have stuff to do tomorrow, though, so I should probably try and sleep, despite how difficult it might be now. Naps are not always good. Helen will be in town tomorrow, though, yay!
- Lizzardie, at 3:30 AM
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