It has been a long time since I have been in college. Fortunately, my adviser from UTEP where I did my Masters degree, Dr. Carroll Johnson, is still around and willing to write a recommendation. He is what a professor should be–truly looking out for his students while maintaining high academic standards. In addition, because of my volunteer work with professor Francois Birgand from the Biological and Agricultural Engineering department at NCSU, I have a second academic recommendation with whom I hope and plan to continue working whether this thing works out or not. After that, I got a couple of stellar industrial references with whom I have worked for over thirty years. I hope it is good enough. In my discussions with the professor who is sponsoring me, he said that if I meet the bare minimum, his recommendation will carry more weight than recommendations. Still they cannot hurt. Next come the transcripts. Some of them are over 40 years old. Who knows how that will go. The one funny deal is that if you are wanting to get a Masters degree, the transcripts can be no older than ten years old, but if you want a PhD, there is no expire date.
