Stressed out.

Why Michael feels stressed??
· His dissertation is way behind in scheduled – which could delay his graduation to August.
· His co-chairmen of his committee not communicating and are not on the same page for expectations. One is out of the country on sabbatical to complicate matters.
· The job search is taking months longer than anticipated.
· The lack of interest from schools well within “reasonable fit” is deflating.
· He is preparing for an interview with the University of Michigan.
· Not to mention the fact that the normal stresses of life, pregnant wife, 6 year old kid and all the normal household needs.

What is the flip side?
· If his graduation is delayed to August, it will give him more time. More time to do data collection, analysis and writing.
· We want to sell the house so that when he gets a job, we are ready to pack and move. We’ve gotten a storage unit and it is filling up fast. We’ll have more time if graduation is in August.
· We have a friend who is interested in buying our house.
· Texas State University has to hire a department chair before hiring the professor position. He is still in consideration for a position there.
· The marketing department doesn’t want him to linger over his dissertation. They would have to fund him for another year. The co-chairs will have to have a meeting of the minds. The department chair will see to that.
· If the job hunt proves fruitless – Texas Tech University has asked him to stay on another year and teach. They have had two faculty members retire and his department chair said one of those positions can be filled by a visiting instructor’s position for a year.
· We have a fall back position that all in all is pretty good.