ECU

is this for real?

i've been emailing back and forth (ok twice each way), with Nathan Richards of ECU.
you can see my links to him in previous posts.

in his last email it ends with:

Anyway Travis, I am happy to help you out – let me know if I haven’t answered all of your questions. Keep an eye on the ECU website – it will be going through more changes soon – changes that will hopefully make you apply to us!

so is it really this easy? you just show some interest in a person and they, in turn, show interest in you?!
fuck! if i actually got my ass in gear, could i apply to ECU this year?
the only thing i really worry about (other than GRE scores) is the fact that you need those 3 references from previous professors.
if i were them, i would have kept my previous letters just in case my students needed another reference on the chance that they didn't make it in anywhere.
maybe i should check out deadlines for ECU (and vanderbilt while i'm at it), then i can see if it would be worth my while to go visit UW again and talk to the professors who gave my references the last time around.

lots of work, but it'd be worth it!