Wearing My Thinking Hat

I've been thinking a lot since my last post about why I was disappointed and about my future plans.

Much of my disappointment was tied to feelings of rejection and the illogical conclusion that I must be a failure: If I didn't get this job, then I must not be a very good teacher or scholar. Therefore, I will never have a job in the academy. Therefore, I must be a failure.

But I wasn't rejected. The school simply doesn't have the funds for a new hire (my feelings of anger over their late evaluation of their funds is a separate issue). And they aren't the only school: one of the Ivy League schools to which I applied also froze academic hiring this year.

I'm planning to apply for positions again in the fall. In the meantime, I'm thinking about delaying my own graduation, looking into funding for research projects, and considering the possibility of returning to TLWTMS (you can imagine how thrilled my mom is about this...).

It still sucks that I'm on the market in the middle of such a terrible economy.

But it's really not the end of the world.