There has been a lot going on this past month but the time is just creeping by for us. So I went to both of my interviews in September and I was really excited. I've always felt that I interview really well and I wasn't to nervous for this part of it. If anything I have been looking forward to the interview part the most because I feel like I finally have the chance to give them an idea of who I am. So my first interview was at MWU, Chicago. We have to go on our interviews by ourselves because it would double the money we are already spending to fly both of us. So I got to Chicago and was so glad I decided to rent a car so I could get to my interview really early. The good thing is MWU is literally down the street from where Dan and I lived 2 summers ago in Chicago. So I knew the area really well and felt really comfortable. As I said before this was a group interview and there were six interviewees and 2 interviewers. We all had a chance to answer every question and it was pretty relaxed. They asked questions that I was expecting, nothing was really out of the blue.
The night before I had planned on the craziest questions! We have a list of questions that people found particularly challenging to answer and they were cake compared to those!
Mostly just-
Who are you?
Why pharmacy?
When have you had to solve a conflict?
How are you a leader at school?
What makes you think you'd be a good pharmacist?
How will you as a pharmacist help better health care?
I hate to sound over confident but I feel like I answered every question perfectly. And really by saying that I mean that when I left I felt like I said everything I wanted to and gave them a really good idea of who I am and why I'd be a great pharmacist. But some of the habits of people in the interviews were driving me crazy!! We were all sitting at a conference table that had swinging chairs and so many people were swinging around like crazy! It was so distracting and made it really obvious that they were really nervous. I like MWU, Chicago a lot but the winters are cold there and Dan and I would prefer to go somewhere a little warmer. Great school though. So after the interview I jetted off to Arizona for my second interview.
Thank goodness Danny went on a mission because his good friend/old companion Shane and his wife Tasia live just outside of Phoenix and they were kind enough to let me stay with them and use one of their cars. It was nice I had a day to relax before my interview and I'd been pretty sick so I watched about 6 hours of "Say yes to the dress". Loved it. and I played with their adorable dogs all day. The Arizona interview was pretty similar except there were 3 interviewees and 3 interviewers. I immediately loved the faculty and deans that we met. Again, the interview went swimmingly well :) I talked about Danny applying as well and one of the interviewers (Dean of Admissions, Mike Dietrich) was so supportive and said they have a lot of students in our similar situation and that they are happy to have couples in the same school. OMG the most distracting thing, they gave us mini water bottles (since it's 1000 degrees) and one girl in my group held hers in her hand the whole interview and like...crumpled it making this frightening noise and she would play with her hair a little bit. the crazy thing is that I probably did something just as distracting.
I kind of doubt it though because I think I probably looked like a stiff because I practically glued my hands to my sides when I saw everyone's nervous ticks.
Then we had lunch and Dr. Dietrich came to our table and said the admissions committee meets today (same day as the interviews) and we could hear as soon as the following Monday...or sooner. WHAT!! Most are like 6 weeks at the soonest. I was loosing it inside. So I went back to Shane and Tasia's house and tried to keep watching TV but it was difficult because I wanted to know so badly. They update your student status online before they call you and like a crazy person I kept refreshing it knowing perfectly well I probably wouldn't find out for a few days. Then at 2:58 (mind you my interview was at 10:30) my status changed to Accepted Student!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think I've called Danny that fast ever! But as I was looking a little closer my Matriculation Agreement (where you electronically sign to accept) wasn't available. My excitement dropped as I realized, "Maybe I got wait listed." I really doubted it but I had to be sure...of course I called everyone and told them in the mean time (I was just so excited!) But I was still nervous. Then at 4:00 Dr. Dietrich called me
Me-Hello
Dietrich-Corinne?
Me-Yes
Dietrich-Congratulations
Even though I'd already seen it online it felt much more real when he called me. Tears immediately filled my eyes. After four years of working my butt off in school and at work someone was acknowledging it all and saying that I was good enough, smart enough and that they wanted me in their school. Words honestly can't describe it. It made me think back to all of the late nights at the library, bad tests, good tests and tears already shed. Dietrich told me that all of the interviewers agreed that I gave a "perfect interview" and that they think this is a "great fit" and "we're excited to have you". Then...
D-Has your husband heard from our Dental School yet?
Me-No, he has a lot of other interviews but not to MWU yet
D-I don't think they've sent out interview invites yet...send me his information and I'll send it over to the dental school and have the right people look at it and see if he's someone they'd like to interview
Within a week Danny got invited for his interview.
After I hung up the phone with Dr. Dietrich I sat there on the couch, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and just had a good cry.
Dan had his interview two weeks ago and LOVED the school. At this point MWU, AZ is our #1 pick (we think). I still haven't heard from VCU or UF yet. But who knows! Dan's interview went really well but again we won't hear from any dental schools until December 1st. There is still a chance that he won't get in but I'm pretty hopeful. His GPA and DAT score are higher than what they accept on average so we're pretty hopeful!
Other school news...the day before my University of Colorado interview they declined Danny's application. This takes UOC off this list. But I was still stuck with the interview. We couldn't refund the tickets but we could refund the rental car which saved us a lot so I canceled the interview. Some people might think this is weird but here's the thing. Even if Danny didn't get in anywhere I had already gotten into MWU and would prefer to live in AZ over Colorado so I declined the interview. About a week ago I got another interview to Concordia University in Wisconsin. Dan has already interviewed at Marquette in Wisconsin but again we won't find out about any acceptances for him until December 1st. My interview is December 15th. So we are going to wait until the first to book the flight and just hope that MWU accepts him quick so we don't have to spend more money on flights.
Oh-and I found out I got accepted to MWU, Chicago :) they haven't offered Danny and interview so we made the decision to decline so we wouldn't have to pay another $1000 retainer fee to hold my spot.
Danny and I want to go to AZ so badly! We both love the school, it's closer to home, it has warm (scorching) weather and it would only be a three year school for me. We have been getting a little too excited planning in our heads where we would live when we would move (3rd week of May ah!). It is so hard not to get ahead of ourselves. December 1st can't come soon enough. I am so excited to have our own house and to move on to our own adventure. Don't get me wrong it's been great living with my parents but I'm excited to have our own space. I sort of feel like I am just shacking up with my boyfriend in my parents' basement. Haha.
I can't believe that after all this time our plan might actually work. Crazy.
