Word is in, and it's a No for the 2nd option. It's School-1 I'm going with.
Justification for the No: It was the most competitive competition they've ever seen and even being invited for an interview was an achievement, they say. Certain aspects of my intervew "blew them away", but others left them unfulfilled. Bottom line - it was just too competitive and they went with someone who has more post-secondary teaching experience.
So, I'm off to timbuktu, to a tiny school, where I'll get the experience this slightly bigger school is looking for. Maybe next year?
Now I get to go through the mourning all over again. This job I'm taking does have its advantages - I'll be getting the experience I need. But it has a few fairly major disadvantages. The worst one: it's a limited term appointment, renewable but not automatically renewed and I won't find out about renewal until long past the application period for the next year's jobs. That means I have no choice, I have to go through this whole application process all over again, beginning in just a few months. It also means I can't really develop a substantial research platform not knowing if I'll be around to actually do the work. And the pay sucks. *sigh*
Look on the bright side. Crappy conditions aside, I'm an Assistant Professor. Meh. Maybe tomorrow it'll feel better.
