Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Accomplished Husband Update: Ivy League Admissions, Grants, etc.

I sometimes like to joke that K is my "trophy husband," but given that "trophy wife" has really negative connotations (particularly in the issues of age and sexism), I suppose I shouldn't say that -- it's in really bad taste. ;-)

What I mean is that I married him for his potential (among many other reasons) and he more than achieved what he aimed for... and even things that he never suspected he'd end up doing, like working for a pharmaceutical company and subsequently giving his unsecure job up to go back to academia.* And unexpected achievements like his "ivy-league experience" and 75% job search success rate.

Anyway... this post here is to brag about my dear accomplished husband! A few months ago he was delighted to find out that one the students who worked in his lab in the past two years was accepted at multiple phd programs, including one at the ivy-league school where K did his two postdocs. Not coincidentally, K's former postdoc advisor hired him as soon as he was accepted!

And yesterday he found out -- after hearing weeks ago that people from another department had received a general rejection (they were notified as a group that nobody in that department had made it) and several of his department colleagues had received individual rejection letters -- that he was APPROVED for the very first grant he applied for. Isn't that fantastic?! I'm just so happy for him! He now had money for equipment and his summer salary will double.

I promise that I won't complain anymore as I did in my "The Grant-Writer Scientist's Wife" post from back in February -- it was all worth it! And it still is a good learning experience even if one doesn't get the grant.

* If you were reading me back in 2009 you will know that this misadventure was the one thing that went remarkably wrong in our lives until today; however, it helped us get our residency faster! Sigh... now it's getting easier to remember the past, but it's still painful at times. 

No comments: