Confusion sets in!

Like a good little networking student, I thought I was being proactive by having a meeting with one of my professors today. I thought to myself, "I will have him write me a letter of recommendation for South Africa!" "I will have him help me clarify my career goals." "I will win him over to be my gateway to future employment in the field!"

But after a forty-five minute coffee conference with Dr. X, I'm not sure if I'm coming or going. "Clarify goals" turned into "Why don't you go to Princeton or travel abroad?"

We start the meeting out with coffee and scones--always good. I ask him about his work history. He asks me about mine.
Then he says, "Truman is a pretty good school, isn't it?"
I say, "Yes, it is," very proudly.

Then he starts asking me what my grades were like, how I scored on the GRE, and what my best subjects were--and after a whirlwind of feeling confident and inadequate all at once, he declares that I should probably look at schools like Princeton, Harvard, or Georgetown since they are the top programs and see if I can't get a fellowship?

I thought professors were supposed to advocate for their own school or at least their own program? I'm not sure what to think now. Doesn't everyone want to go to one of those schools? Would they actually let ME in?

I think my professor was just trying to be helpful since his children went East Coast and abroad, but now I'm left to wonder if I should stay in this program or just get a work permit for another country and hope happenstance sets in somewhere down the line?

I've spent all morning looking at work permits for other countries and fellowship opportunities all while I was supposed to be studying for tomorrow's midterm.

Feeling like a wet sponge hopped on possibility.