shhhhhh, it's a secret, but i've declined the offer from the state dept. it's only a secret from my phd advisor, though, which is why i'm telling the internet. hi, internet!

in a meeting with my advisor on wednesday, he wasn't optimistic enough for my tastes about the certainty of me graduating by march 6, which is when i need to graduate by if i want the extra salary money i'd get with a phd. and damn, those three shiny letters that i've been working toward for nearly 8 years (that's a LOT of years) better DO something for me after all that time. sooo, after consulting with karl and the extremely nice HR person at State, i declined the offer.

this isn't a permanent thing, this declining of the offer. or at least i hope not. State makes separate hiring offers for each entering a-100 class, and if a given candidate declines an offer, she just goes back on the register (list o' candidates, ranked by test score). if, when offers go out for the next a-100 class, that candidate's name is high enough on the list, she will get called again with another offer. for people with high enough scores, it's a sure bet they'll get called again. for people with very low scores, they better take the first offer that comes. my score is in the mid-to-high range, and i'm pretty sure i'll get another call. but it's a (hopefully very small) risk.

but i'm not mentioning to my advisor that i've declined this offer. though i'd tell him if he asked directly, i don't think he understands how the process works well enough to know the right question to ask, to force me to 'fess up. so i'll continue to let him think that i'm starting in march, and if i'm not quite done by the time march rolls around, or if my committee wants some tweaking done after my defense, then i'll tell him that i worked out a thing with State that allows me to start in may rather than march. he doesn't have to know that i worked out this plan way back in january. and hopefully by the time march rolls around, i'll have gotten and accepted the offer for may.

why am i doing this? because i suspect that i my advisor knew that i have until may to finish up, then it will *take* me til may. but if he thinks that i've only got til march, i might stay on his priority list long enough to actually finish up by sometime in march, leaving me a few weeks to luxuriate in being DONE before i have to start at State and go back to school (in a suit, starting at 7 am).

i think that he thinks that if i don't quite finish up by march 6, i can just do whatever tweaking is necessary in the evenings or whatever while i'm working at State. he knows there's a salary difference, but i don't think he knows that if i start work before getting my phd, they won't adjust my salary after i do get my degree. and that extra salary is a nice chunk o' change, hence this whole secret.

back to dissertating.....