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.
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Life
I have so much to update on and I'm going to do them all on separate posts just to keep everything straight.
So last time was a little dramatic. To say the least. Danny took his DAT two days after that post and to say he did well is an understatement. This kid got in the 92nd percentile of anyone who takes the DAT. I could not be more proud of him. He worked so hard and it all payed off for him. When he called me after he left the test (results are immediate for the DAT) and he told me he got a 21 I had to stop myself from crying. It was the biggest relief I have ever heard because with that competitive of a score he will get in somewhere and I'm positive of that. So that was the best day to date...then it got even better a month later. Danny called me to say he got his first invite for an interview to not just any school but to University of Florida...our number one pick!! We were ecstatic. Danny is up to SIX interviews. We are so excited and I could not be more proud of him.
His interviews include...
1-Florida
2-Nova Southeastern (another Florida school)
3-Case Western (Ohio)
4-VCU (Virginia)
5-Marquette (Wisconsin)
6-UNLV (Las Vegas)
How awesome is that! I'm so proud of him.
So after Dan had gotten his third interview I was starting to get a little sad and I was convinced that I wasn't going to get one...then at 2 in the morning the emails came!! I have THREE interviews so far!
1-Midwestern (Chicago)
2-Midwestern (Arizona)
3-University of Colorado
Now you might be thinking those Midwesterns count as one interview. Not really. They interview, accept and reject completely separate. Even more of a difference is the AZ campus is only a three year program instead of the usual four year. So yes, you bet I am counting them as separate interviews. But I think they are trying to test my dedication because my Chicago interview is Sept. 28th and my Arizona interview is Sept. 30th. So I'm going to be a traveling fool! But I'm so excited!! I feel bad because I tell everyone and they probably think I'm being annoying and bragging but honestly I didn't think I would get even one interview so I'm just crazy thrilled! I'm a little nervous for the Midwesterns because they are group interviews and I haven't talked to one pharmacist who has had a group interview. And then Colorado is one on one---yikes. Stressful to say the least. To be honest I interview quite well usually so hopefully this won't be an exception. So if you'll notice we still don't have interviews that are in the same state-so hopefully there are more to come.
People keep asking me if I have a gut feeling on where we'll end up...and I do. If I was a betting girl (which those who went with us on the cruise know that I am :)) I would say we end up at Midwestern, AZ. I'd be surprised if Dan didn't get an interview there...or to ASU which is close by, so we'll see. It's still really early. For example, University of Washington doesn't even interview til February. So we are very grateful and feel very blessed to be getting interviews already.
Honestly. One person we owe a huge thanks to is Dan's brother Randy. He is at UF doing his residency in Oral Surgery and has been through this whole process and helped us so much with choosing where to apply to, personal statements and most importantly applying early. Next of course is all of our parents they have been so supportive and amazing with helping us out. We have lived at home with my parents so we could save up for this year...which ended up being even more expensive than planned. And thanks to our parents we can still have a savings because of all the help they have been...seriously forever indebted. Because everything is so expensive...applications, DAT/PCAT, supplemental applications, flights with only 2 weeks notice and the worst is yet to come....when schools accept you there is usually a small window (like a few weeks) where you have to accept or decline their offer. If you accept you have to pay them a retainer to hold your spot. These can cost upwards of $1000! Thank goodness those won't be for a while. This has been a stressful experience but I feel like we are finally getting to the fun part. And it finally feels real. A year from now we will be living somewhere else. On our own. Just the two of us.
I'm so excited!
Dan and I really are doing so great. I have an exceptional husband. He's the best man I know. We've been married a year and a half and I can honestly say we don't fight. And it's not because things get bottled up and we're going to explode one day because we definitely have discussions about things but it's never an argument. We've never had to apologize for mean words said. We are just really happy together. Something we have tried from day one to incorporate into our marriage is the Proclamation to the World. and specifically when it says...
"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."
These nine things can guarantee a happy marriage. I think the main one I take from this list is respect. If you are in an argument with your spouse and your yelling...stop and think...one of you is probably not respecting the other if you are yelling. I don't think I've ever seen Danny yell. At anyone.
Lately I feel so blessed with my life and the decisions we've made together. I can't wait to see where we end up next year. All of the speculating about where we are going is so worthless when I think about it. We know that we'll go wherever is going to be best for us and that if we end up in Wisconsin (eek) there is going to be a bigger reason for it.
So last time was a little dramatic. To say the least. Danny took his DAT two days after that post and to say he did well is an understatement. This kid got in the 92nd percentile of anyone who takes the DAT. I could not be more proud of him. He worked so hard and it all payed off for him. When he called me after he left the test (results are immediate for the DAT) and he told me he got a 21 I had to stop myself from crying. It was the biggest relief I have ever heard because with that competitive of a score he will get in somewhere and I'm positive of that. So that was the best day to date...then it got even better a month later. Danny called me to say he got his first invite for an interview to not just any school but to University of Florida...our number one pick!! We were ecstatic. Danny is up to SIX interviews. We are so excited and I could not be more proud of him.
His interviews include...
1-Florida
2-Nova Southeastern (another Florida school)
3-Case Western (Ohio)
4-VCU (Virginia)
5-Marquette (Wisconsin)
6-UNLV (Las Vegas)
How awesome is that! I'm so proud of him.
So after Dan had gotten his third interview I was starting to get a little sad and I was convinced that I wasn't going to get one...then at 2 in the morning the emails came!! I have THREE interviews so far!
1-Midwestern (Chicago)
2-Midwestern (Arizona)
3-University of Colorado
Now you might be thinking those Midwesterns count as one interview. Not really. They interview, accept and reject completely separate. Even more of a difference is the AZ campus is only a three year program instead of the usual four year. So yes, you bet I am counting them as separate interviews. But I think they are trying to test my dedication because my Chicago interview is Sept. 28th and my Arizona interview is Sept. 30th. So I'm going to be a traveling fool! But I'm so excited!! I feel bad because I tell everyone and they probably think I'm being annoying and bragging but honestly I didn't think I would get even one interview so I'm just crazy thrilled! I'm a little nervous for the Midwesterns because they are group interviews and I haven't talked to one pharmacist who has had a group interview. And then Colorado is one on one---yikes. Stressful to say the least. To be honest I interview quite well usually so hopefully this won't be an exception. So if you'll notice we still don't have interviews that are in the same state-so hopefully there are more to come.
People keep asking me if I have a gut feeling on where we'll end up...and I do. If I was a betting girl (which those who went with us on the cruise know that I am :)) I would say we end up at Midwestern, AZ. I'd be surprised if Dan didn't get an interview there...or to ASU which is close by, so we'll see. It's still really early. For example, University of Washington doesn't even interview til February. So we are very grateful and feel very blessed to be getting interviews already.
Honestly. One person we owe a huge thanks to is Dan's brother Randy. He is at UF doing his residency in Oral Surgery and has been through this whole process and helped us so much with choosing where to apply to, personal statements and most importantly applying early. Next of course is all of our parents they have been so supportive and amazing with helping us out. We have lived at home with my parents so we could save up for this year...which ended up being even more expensive than planned. And thanks to our parents we can still have a savings because of all the help they have been...seriously forever indebted. Because everything is so expensive...applications, DAT/PCAT, supplemental applications, flights with only 2 weeks notice and the worst is yet to come....when schools accept you there is usually a small window (like a few weeks) where you have to accept or decline their offer. If you accept you have to pay them a retainer to hold your spot. These can cost upwards of $1000! Thank goodness those won't be for a while. This has been a stressful experience but I feel like we are finally getting to the fun part. And it finally feels real. A year from now we will be living somewhere else. On our own. Just the two of us.
I'm so excited!
Dan and I really are doing so great. I have an exceptional husband. He's the best man I know. We've been married a year and a half and I can honestly say we don't fight. And it's not because things get bottled up and we're going to explode one day because we definitely have discussions about things but it's never an argument. We've never had to apologize for mean words said. We are just really happy together. Something we have tried from day one to incorporate into our marriage is the Proclamation to the World. and specifically when it says...
"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."
These nine things can guarantee a happy marriage. I think the main one I take from this list is respect. If you are in an argument with your spouse and your yelling...stop and think...one of you is probably not respecting the other if you are yelling. I don't think I've ever seen Danny yell. At anyone.
Lately I feel so blessed with my life and the decisions we've made together. I can't wait to see where we end up next year. All of the speculating about where we are going is so worthless when I think about it. We know that we'll go wherever is going to be best for us and that if we end up in Wisconsin (eek) there is going to be a bigger reason for it.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Worst Morning Ever
So I had an Organic Chemistry test this morning. I have been preparing for this test for a while and have felt really prepared for it. Another thing I had scheduled for today was a meeting with the Associate Dean of Science, Greg Owens a.k.a. the most intimidating person to speak to, discussing him writing a letter of recommendation for me for pharmacy school. The test was at 8:35 and my appointment at around 9:30.
So here is the main point of my story. Last night I had this awesome Harry Potter dream. I have these pretty frequently and they are my absolute favorite. I woke up a couple of times but hadn't heard the alarm yet so went back to platform 9 3/4. Finally I woke up and it was 9:12!!!!! Not joking. I immediately through my phone across the room, because it misbehaved and did not sound the alarm to wake me up. Oh and apparently I smacked Danny in the stomach screaming, "it's 9:12!" I don't remember this...I think I suffer from rage blackouts. Anyways I send two frantic emails explaining what happened and rush to school to see if I can find the professor and convince her to let me take the test.
After some searching I find her after seeing me in my current state of hysteria she says, "Oh sweetheart what's wrong?" (I love the women Chemistry teachers who are just so sweet) Sobbing through the words, "I slept in" she stops me and says, "That's just fine, you can take it...just not like this. Go get a drink, take a half hour, calm down and then come back and take the test...no big deal." Biggest sigh of relief. I did just that. Got a drink, came back and took the test. Which I am happy to report I got a 94% on :)
So for those of you who saw my facebook status today that said, "Prof Holly Sebahar is a saint" you now know why.
So here is the main point of my story. Last night I had this awesome Harry Potter dream. I have these pretty frequently and they are my absolute favorite. I woke up a couple of times but hadn't heard the alarm yet so went back to platform 9 3/4. Finally I woke up and it was 9:12!!!!! Not joking. I immediately through my phone across the room, because it misbehaved and did not sound the alarm to wake me up. Oh and apparently I smacked Danny in the stomach screaming, "it's 9:12!" I don't remember this...I think I suffer from rage blackouts. Anyways I send two frantic emails explaining what happened and rush to school to see if I can find the professor and convince her to let me take the test.
After some searching I find her after seeing me in my current state of hysteria she says, "Oh sweetheart what's wrong?" (I love the women Chemistry teachers who are just so sweet) Sobbing through the words, "I slept in" she stops me and says, "That's just fine, you can take it...just not like this. Go get a drink, take a half hour, calm down and then come back and take the test...no big deal." Biggest sigh of relief. I did just that. Got a drink, came back and took the test. Which I am happy to report I got a 94% on :)
So for those of you who saw my facebook status today that said, "Prof Holly Sebahar is a saint" you now know why.
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