Georgia on my mind...

Well, the cat's out of the bag...Holli and I are moving to Athens, GA where I'll work toward a Ph.D. in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at The University of Georgia.

This has been a long journey to say the least. It doesn't seem that it's taken a year for me to retake my GRE, make campus visits, send in applications, and wait and wait until I'm blue in the face to finally receive my letters. Then came something I never expected: I was admitted to six out of the eight schools I applied to. I really only hoped to be admitted to one.

It more or less came down to Georgia, Kansas, and Texas A&M. I truly loved everything I saw at each of those programs, and soon realized that my toughest decision was to choose which of the three schools was best for me. One friend put it to me this way: "Do you want the Audi or the BMW? You can't really go wrong with any of your final choices." I think he was right, but when it came down to it, I did have to be a little selfish and ask myself (and my gut) what it was I truly wanted. We prayed about it. We fasted about it. My decision hit me like a ton of bricks. Then I waivered, wondering if I had made the right choice. Then my decision hit me like a ton of bricks again. It had to be Georgia.

Calling and e-mailing the other programs (especially Kansas and A&M) was so hard. I thought I might actually break down into tears when I told people who'd been so generous with their time in recruiting me that I was, in fact, calling to decline my offer. I was fortunate enough to hear that these individuals respected my decision and were willing to let me keep in touch with them as I progressed.

But, now that the calls have been made and I've set my sights on Georgia, that's where I need to focus. UGA's PA department has some amazing faculty - nationally and internationally recognized experts in their respected fields - all assembled in one school. In terms of graduate education, Georgia is ranked only behind the Maxwell School at Syracuse and the Kennedy School at Harvard (though that truly applies to master's programs - Ph.D. programs aren't ranked - but they have all of the same faculty, so the reputation definitely sets them apart).

I think I'll miss Arizona and being close to family and friends for a few years, but that's just it...it's only a few years. Holli and I are looking forward to it. We both think it's quite surreal - looking at condos in Athens, realizing we're actually going to do this - but in the long run, it's probably one of the better things we could be doing in life right now...