6.10.2009

the city of angels

surprise! josh is going to ucla. absolutely, positively, the final decision is finally made. not ONCE (since we've made this decision a few times by now) but definitely for ALL. that's right, we're leaving utah on friday, august 21st, to arrive in our new home in los angeles on saturday the 22nd. (the photos are of ucla's campus, from march when josh went out to visit and interview at ucla...)
some of you are imagining we're heading to duke and north carolina next month. yes, that was plan A. then, ucla complicated things by offering josh a sweet scholarship. so we thought about it and decided that it was already a close decision before, now the scales tipped in favor of the west coast. then, to complicate things FURTHER, we thought we'd wait and see if duke would pony up. of course, neither of us thought they would. these mba programs have about 20% acceptance rates, and given that they still admit about 400 students a year...well, they obviously don't exactly need to pay people to get them to show up. and competition is fierce for any funding they do offer. so we just threw that in for entertainment's sake. lo and behold, duke came back with lots of $$! i should have known better than to underestimate my hard-working 4.0/780-on-the-GMAT/Goldman Sachs-loves-him smarty-pants. of course they're willing to pay to get him there! unfortunately, they were willing to pay almost exactly what ucla was (despite having no idea of his other offer). that put us back to square one. good thing is by now we have housing and schools for the kids set up in both places. we've been in touch with people in josh's program and their spouses and people from church. etc. so we would be set either way...

so why ucla? who knows! honestly, it's one of those decisions between two great things you just have to make. we have no doubt both places would have been awesome and love so many things about each of them. one thing we did learn is that josh can get in-state tuition in california. random, since for the past 12 years he's lived in hawaii, mongolia, and utah. but since he went to all four years of high school in orange county, CA and graduated from fountain valley high--he still qualifies. so that will still save us $15k over the 2 years. not exactly petty cash. other bonuses: relative proximity to family and friends; perfect weather; close to beach (josh is a major warm weather/beach nut and already has our 6 year old joshua convinced that he needs to learn to surf ASAP); another HUGE factor is that we think california may be a good place for us long term. lots of job opportunities for josh, lots of great phd programs for me, etc. so it simply makes sense to network and build contacts there. of course we're also aware of the high cost of living and the crazy congestion...but i'm planning on winning the lottery, so we're not going to worry about the first one too much. and the second, well, lots of people also means lots of opportunities. and from living in salt lake (granted, a tiny fraction of the size of LA) we've learned that it doesn't matter if you're in a city, in fact we LOVE it, as long as you have your neighborhood, a reasonable commute, and have some escape to the outdoors (and we'll be super close to the beach and pretty close to mountains--sweet!) so that's the call.
we'll be out in exactly 10 weeks folks. FINALLY! woohoo! come visit!
and here's a little of my hippie girl joni mitchell singing the praises of california: "it's too old and cold and settled in it's way here...oh but california...california!...i might have stayed on with him there, but my heart cried out for you california...oh california...will you take me as i am, strung out on another man...california i'm a-comin home"

12 comments:

The HousewifeTravels said...

Exciting! We'd love to see you sometime when we're down at the L.A. temple.

Heide Call said...

HOORAY! We have been pulling for west coast all along! and geeze, you sure have youself one heck of a hubby!:)

Kendi said...

Yeah, you always knew how we felt! Mostly we're just excited for you guys to finally KNOW exactly what is going on.
Please sign Joshua up for surfing lessons so when we come to visit he can teach Carter! They would have a blast and in return when you come to Utah Carter can teach Joshua how to snow ski! I think that is quite the little trade, don't you?

After tomorrow we are pretty much free and clear of wedding stuff so let the summer begin and let's plan so fun stuff!

Marianne said...

Hey, I'm just glad you'll be around for another month! And I'm also glad that the decision is made for your sake...it's tough to be married to a wanted man! We're in southern California often, so we'd love to come visit!!

Jodi said...

Yay! I'm so excited! I would be happy for you either way, but we might end up in Cali after China. Plus, I'm still SO in love with California and I am excited for you guys to get to spend time there and get to love it as a family.

Btw, there is an awesome ice cream cookie sandwich place right south of UCLA that is amazing. We use to go there after baptisms when I was a youth in HB. It's called Ditty Reese (not sure how it's spelled).

amber said...

Hooray! Congratulations, guys!

Katie Goulding Sierer said...

Wow! Great to hear you made a decision! We are excited for you guys. Hope to see you in August--we will be in SLC for more than 24 hours so hope to spend more time with you guys.

Patricia Costello said...

Excellent choice! I'm excited for you to enjoy beautiful weather every day, be close to the beach, and start talking like you're from the valley. Congratulations!!!!!!

("California...knows how to par-tay..." If you don't know that song by 2Pac, look it up and listen to it right now. It's called California Love. You probably do know it.)

Sheri said...

What a blast!!! We are just thrilled for you, I am sure you will love it!!

Julie said...

Congrats! That will be awesome!

kelly said...

have so much fun!!!

Cormorant said...

So, congrats! I re-checked this and realized I never commented on this post. That is so awesome for Josh and your family. I'm sure you'll love it. Oh California, and Joni Mitchell--the best! Have fun soaking up the sun.