Not the reaction I was expecting…

As someone who is passionate about social advocacy, I applied to a graduate school program at a university that is very well known for their political communications master’s degree. 

As someone who has a rather low GPA, I thought it would be silly to apply – but I did anyways. 

I remember everyone was super supportive of me and my decision to apply somewhere that might be out of my reach as a student, except for one person. That person would be my own Father.  

My Dad said, “You want to go to an expensive graduate school to study that? That is not worth the money.”

I brushed his comment off. 

Fast forward to Super Bowl Sunday. I get an email that says, “Your Application Decision is ready to be viewed”.

I told everyone in the room and it got quiet. I was with the people that I consider to be my best friends and I knew either way, I am glad I figured out with them. 

Hearing my heart pounding in my throat, I login into my portal. I click on “View Decision”. 

Oh my god. No way. It says, “Congratulations! You have been selected to be part of the Master of ….” 

That all I needed to read before I screamed, “I GOT IN”. There are some moments in life where you wish it was filmed and this was one of those moments. The people that I hold so close and dear to my heart stood up cheering and some were even crying with me as I covered my hands over my face and kept saying, “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!”. 

Probably one of the most memorable moments of my life. 

I Facetime my mom and when she picks up and I am sobbing my eyes out and she immediately assumes that I got into some terrible accident and I had to reassure her that this was good news. I said, “Go get dad!” 

When they both entered the frame, I scream the words, “I got into Grad School in Washington D.C.!”.

Then it happened. The moment that I will never forget. 

When I was at my absolute happiness, celebrating an accomplishment that I have achieved – I see my own father look down and exit the frame of the facetime and hear him leave the room. 

I was so upset. In that moment, my happy tears turned into sad tears and I rushed off the phone. After rerunning this moment in my head over and over again- it clicked. He has probably never seen a woman go to school for what I want to do before and become successful from it. 

If I wanted to go to the same graduate school for something more “useful” like in the medical field, I bet he would have been way happier. At first, I was mad at him but then I realized that he grew up in a household full of brothers who went on to do ambitious careers like engineering and computer science. Even my older brother is currently pursing film and cinematography.

I understand that what he is saying is just a reflection of his own confusion as to why a woman wants to go to an expensive graduate school to study social advocacy. 

With that being said, I shall show him

See you in Washington D.C.!