(no subject)

[meanfreepath]

Not having applied for the NSF or Hertz Fellowships, the fellowships that potential graduate students in science are supposed to try for, I have decided to apply for the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. As much as I hate having to do so, I think I will try to sell myself as a plasma guy, and play up the relevance of plasma to energy needs and thus national security. It will be a very long shot, as there seem to have been hardly any successful candidates from small liberal arts colleges with good science programs like Swarthmore, Williams, or Reed. This, however, might at least partly have to do with people being reluctant to accept funds from the Department of Defense. I'm frankly just being pragmatic here; the fellowship, while very difficult to get, is quite prestigious and the stipend would far exceed what I could normally expect as a graduate student. This is due 1/6.

The plan, then, is to spend the next week and a half applying to 6 more grad schools and this fellowship. Then, kicking back and having fun at Hogmanay. Thereafter, working on the thesis. And trying not to waste too much time on things like LJ and Facebook in the meantime.