i finished the preliminary application today (which includes the essay i've been bitching about for weeks).

now i just have to get my two letters of recommendation. once usc gets the application, they claim that it will only take them two weeks to give an answer. if i make it past that round then i have to fill out another application and do an interview.

i wanted to apply for summer '05, but today the coordinator of the program told me that the summer courses are generally considered too intense for people who haven't taken science recently. so i guess we're looking at fall 2005.