Wow, what a day.

Got up late, had some cereal. The director of medieval studies over at Notre Dame called earlier today; I didn't really know what to expect, other than something akin to a phone interview. Instead, it felt like he was nearly begging me to come, touting the merits of ND and its funding. At one point, he even said that they were thrilled to see another scientist-turned-historian because that usually meant 1) excellent analytical skills and 2) real intelligence. I feel like they really want me. Wow. That's really new - college admissions wasn't like that at all for me. UT didn't give a damn, neither did Rice; Caltech deferred me and didn't bother to call when I was admitted, like they did with the other female admittees. I've never had someplace offer me money to attend. Full fellowship? Stipend?? What?! I felt dazed.

Not only that, but the medieval studies department has *loads* of money for travel, summer work, conference trips, you name it... AND they're considering an increase in the stipend that comes with the full fellowship. Yikes. o.O

This is a far cry from UCLA's severe lack of funds for its history department. Add this to Geary's remarks when I spoke with him last December:
1) If a college really wants you, they'll offer you money to go and take an interest in you, including calling you, email, etc.
2) UCLA rarely funds its first-year grad students in humanities, since there's simply not much money for these areas. With the budget problems CA's having, and from Schwarzenegger's last budget, grad student fees were set to increase on the order of 30-40%... and there will be less financial aid awarded. UCLA's looking like a bleaker and bleaker place to be a grad student, even with Geary and other fabulous historians in their dept. :(

I feel torn - I'd really hoped to go to UCLA or Princeton, where I figured I'd be nearby at least some of my friends from Caltech. South Bend's kind of out in the middle of nowhere in Indiana. But the money... god, I hate to say it, but not being in debt for $20k after my first year would be really, really nice. And things are less expensive there. AND they're in essence paying me to attend, with that stipend above and beyond my tuition and fees.

It's not just the money. Notre Dame's a great school - it's actually the only place I'd applied to their medieval institute, instead of their history dept. The difference is the breadth of education: the history dept focuses only on history, while med. studies is a much more interdisciplinary program, incorporating not only history but literature, languages, art, anthro - you name it. It's more concerned with developing a cluster of interests in a time period rather than a specific interest, and presenting a range of approaches to problems. In other words, it sounds very appealing. And Tom Noble sounds like a really nice fellow, though I'll soon be in contact with his mentees and get another view of the institute and Noble.

I just don't know what to do.