And the winner (by technical knockout)....

...is University of Michigan.

It's not a decision that's terribly pleasing, but it's better than the alternative. Many of you didn't see the underlying effort that went into my wife getting into five out of eight of the schools she applied to; nor can you understand how heart-wrenching this outcome truly is. The past months have been horrendous, to say the least; full of overwhelming stress, crippling doubt, countless hours of lost sleep, and more than a few instances of frayed nerves coming too close to the surface for comfort.

For those of you who weren't privy to all the goings-on, I'll provide a brief backstory. Last year, over the course of several months, my wife and I traveled to six graduate schools in four different states - Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and New York - and prepped and sent out eight elaborately designed application packets. My wife did most of the heavy lifting; I was there mainly in a "support" capacity; serving as driver, graphic designer, occasional postal monkey, and researcher. When we visited these campuses, the faculty saw her; heard her present herself and her work. I hid in the shadows and checked out the graphics departments (it's my "thing."). After all of the visits were done and the packets mailed, the waiting game began. The first university responded with a rejection, which didn't do anything to lighten the already tense situation. Things were beginning to look a little bleak - until the second university responded: accepted. Then a second acceptance. Then another. Five acceptance letters in total: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State University, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, University of Michigan, and University of Cincinnati. The first one in the list is where she really wanted to go, followed by the second, etc.

In the end, we were really hoping for Ohio State University. The program was impressive, and - according to the art office's graduate secretary - acceptance to the program entailed a teaching assistantship and a full tuition waiver as well as a stipend. This meant that we could live fairly comfortably - not like kings, mind you, but definately not like paupers.

And here's the part where it all falls apart.

For two weeks, the head of the sculpture program at OSU had been trying to secure funding for my wife to attend the program. Apparently we were misinformed regarding funding, and were now struggling to get anything. A couple days ago she finally got word that there was no funding available, which completely and utterly destroyed any hope of being able to attend that school. As heartbreaking as that was, she now realized that she was forced to choose between two programs that really didn't have what she wanted. One (University of Cincinnati) provided stellar funding but the program was severely lacking (and the city left much to be desired); the other (University of Michigan) provided minimal funding but a decent program in a more recognized and established university. The decision wasn't an easy one - neither was want she wanted - but in the end the decision was to go to a university that would help more with the career down the road.

So, University of Michigan it is.

In roughly four months, we'll be in or around Ann Arbor. There's no real details right now because we're still trying to figure all this out.

It's been a rough couple of months. I can only hope that the next couple of months are a little better.