Chapter 31 by Johanna

What do you have planned?

A PhD interview

Today you are finally meeting the professor who is considering you for a PhD place. Your whole application seemed like a long-shot being proposed as a more of an applied project than a purely academic one but last week you received an unexpected invitation to a meeting in person with your potential supervisor.

You have plenty of time but you are out of bed, showered and getting dressed before you know it. You have only a quick bite even though it is still ages before you will risk being late (you do not even know if you will be spanked if you are, more likely simply not even allowed in in the first place; your research on the supervisor suggests she is very strict but not just in corporal manner). You go over your notes again but you know them by heart by now, and a lot more that you did not add to the file. Your thoughts start to drift. While your application was being considered, you often went to your Rulebook-supplemented memories of university and while you seemed to have a good time (even better than what happened in your old life) it never felt fully real. Now you have a very good chance to return to the educational environment in this new world as a PhD student and feel every bit of it perfectly.

Or could you do even more? You still have the Rulebook and every reason to believe its magic still works. Universities already are a special place but you can make them even more so... in a number of ways. If you want the full experience from the point of application though now is the time to start writing... or to leave the idea completely and be satisfied with all the classic punishments you will doubtlessly find yourself receiving.