When Darden Called

And the word is out! I got accepted at Darden’s Full Time MBA program!

And that is why I am back in India, filing my e-separation and hoping to enjoy a few months at home and with the family before I have to leave once more. Suddenly there seems so much to do, to plan, to calculate – all my years of taking CAT comes to use now as I convert Rs to USD and back again, trying to figure out where to meet expenses from. But on a different plane, there are other worries too. How will I adjust to being a student once more, after nearly 3 years as an earning professional? 3 years of not needing to be accountable to anyone for money earned or spent, of being able to eat out on a whim, or buy an expensive book or item of clothing without needing to trace back to monthly budget. All my Indian savings when converted to USD seem to amount to almost nothing, while my USD savings will probably whittle down to nothing by the time I get to Darden.

I guess this is a post to write about how happy I am, that a dream is finally coming true. I cannot shake off the feeling that perhaps it’s coming a year too late, but every time I think of Darden and the 2 years coming up, I cannot help but feel a sense of excitement and adventure. I wrote at the beginning of this year about how I could feel that this year was going to be significant for me, that my life was going to change drastically. That sense of change is heightened now and although there is some fear of the unknown, there is also this feeling that the ride is going to be not without a fair share of excitement. Despite the period of self-doubt that I went through during my application process – I’m hearing that the feeling is extremely normal! – I hear people telling me I’m getting what I deserve and with each passing day I’m convinced more and more that they maybe right after all.

Finally, I know my parents are happy. They’re worried, but they’re happy. They’re worried that I may not want to come back to India again, or that I may not be able to. They’re worried that the process of finding me a husband is going to get more complicated than it already is. But I know that they’re happy I’m going to do what I’ve wanted and to me that’s all that matters.