Back to San Antonio

I woke up at 5:00 am, showered, and drove to San Antonio (with a stop at Starbucks along the way) to shadow today. I really hoped that this trip would give me better perspective of the school and it worked! I got there and found the Student Affairs office to meet my DS 1 and go to class. Well, she didn't show, so the receptionist walked me to the lecture hall where I sat on the back row for one of the most boring lectures I've ever sat through - biochemistry. 1/2 the class was missing and the rest were surfing the net and checking emails on their laptops. They should have just stayed in bed. After biochem, the rest of the class joined us for epidemiology which was given by a very feminine man and in the middle of the break, Jennifer found me and I sat with her for the rest of the lecture. She was very nice, a little excessively so, but was very excited to try to be of help. She sat with a girl named Elizabeth and we all went to lunch together. They were full of pros and cons for the school which was helpful, but their disgust for gross anatomy was lamentable. : ) I headed back to the Student Affairs office to meet my DS 4 for clinic and she didn't show, so I was escorted down to the clinic to meet Courtney. Come to find out....she's in Dr. Funk's group. So I got to spend all afternoon with him and his DS 4s. I talked with her about being married and in dental school and she was very nice and had lots of helpful information. She took an impression of a crown prep. Dr. Funk walked me around the bays and I was able to display some of my vast dental knowledge ; ) He introduced me to all the professors on the floor and Dr. Glass who stopped by. I watched a surgical root tip extraction and it was time to go. I left wtih a much more confident feeling about San Antonio's perception of me and my perception of San Antonio. On to the next....

Bored

100 days until acceptance letters go out! But who's counting?

I guess we're going to Houston...

Well, I have the 3 Texas schools covered. Got a letter from Houston today. Since it's the school that I'm least interested in purely because of the location - Houston - I'm a little frustrated that it's the Monday right after my Baylor interview. I'm going to be exhausted! We'll drive to Dallas on Thursday night, I'll interview all day Friday, then we'll join the church festivities on Saturday and Sunday and drive to Houston for my bright and early interview. Just need to hear from Oklahoma and Kentucky...if I hear from them at all!

Coming soon:

Monday: Turn in my RDA documents so I'm official!
Sept 5: Biochemistry starts
Sept 15: Baylor interview
Sept 18: Houston interview
Sept 22: I turn 27...oh my gosh
October 15: cut off for applications
Dec 1: D day!

Ready for takeoff!

Sooo...just hanging out here and working. I take my radiology exam on Thursday and get this mess over with. I'll be a "Registered Dental Assistant" as my name tag already proudly proclaims. Erik is working so hard to get our house ready to sell. I feel bad that I'm not really helping, but I can't with most things. September 15 is only a month away. I'm actually going back to San Antonio on the 25th to shadow a 1st and 4th year. I think it will really help to spend a day in class in a more relaxed manner and get a better feel for what it will really be like. Plus, it's more interest in the school for all to see! I'm kinda anxious for class to start...September 5th. I just hope that it has enough students enrolled so the class makes. That would stink if it didn't. I don't know what Baylor would think about that and I know Houston and Oklahoma wouldn't like it. : ) So I just waste my time meeting up with old friends on myspace and facebook, baking cakes, and waiting. I am definitely in a holding sequence and I am so ready to go somewhere....anywhere....just somewhere....

The San Antonio Interview - A Summary

We arrived in San Antonio around 3:00 on Sunday afternoon and checked into our sufficient but slightly disappointing hotel. The medical center was pretty overwhelming and I was glad that Erik came with me. We drove into a pretty iffy part of town to get to the hotel, so we didn't get the best first impression. Then, we drove downtown and raced to see all the missions before they closed at 5:00. We then got caught in the rain, but headed to the Alamo and Riverwalk anyway. We found a good Mexican restaurant and I had a margarita to calm my nerves a bit. I wanted to drive around the neighborhoods near the medical center, but Erik was right and it was time for bed. What a wreck. I just didn't sleep well at all, and had this weird nervous feeling all morning. I wasn't excited, I wasn't scared, and I wasn't truley nervous, it was just really weird. So when I got out of the car to go into the school, and kissed Erik goodbye, I started to get a little choked up, but kind of reluctantly got out and went inside. I was the 5th of 12 to arrive and enjoyed chatting with the other applicants. I met my friend, Jeff, but we really didn't chat much. We all sat down at this big board room table (me at the head) and we waited for the admissions/financial/academic people to come give there unbearably long schpeels which pretty much wore us out. Finally, lunch and two students came and ate with us. They were really nice and I did a good job of asking questions and participating. Then, two more students came and we broke into groups to tour the school. I didn't know it, but the girl, Emily, ended up being my student interviewer. I asked good questions on the tour. Compared to the clinic areas and the offices, the rest of the school was pretty blah, but absolutely sufficient for a good dental education. It was time for the student interviews and Emily was really nice. She asked if I applied to med school and how I arrived at dentistry. We hit it off pretty well and I felt good about it. She walked me to Dr. Funk's office, who according to Emily and Steve was the "class clown" at the school. I was expecting someone a little bit more personable, but he had a really dry humour. He was very nice and we had a lot in common, but he didn't ask me a lot of questions. He wanted me to ask all the questions. I tended to ask him more personal questions rather than questions about the school, but I just don't really know how it went. I'm sure it was fine. I laughed at his jokes, but I don't think I did a very good job at selling myself, although I wasn't given the best opportunities, since he didn't really ask me questions about myself. I'm such a better listener than a talker, and that's kinda what came out in that interview. He walked me back to the dean's office and we chatted along the way. Then we filled out a survey and a short essay question and I left. I didn't really know what to tell Erik, because I just had this weird feeling after it was all over. I still have a hard time explaining to people what I thought about it. It's no love affair, but I just need more to compare it to. Therefore, it is very good that when we got back to Round Rock and I checked the mail, I had a letter for an interview from Baylor on September 15. Mom is ecstatic. Erik wasn't completely impressed with the experience either, so it seems that we are all open to all the options God throws my way. Then it's decision time.

On my way...

We leave Sunday for San Antonio to get acquainted with the area a little bit before the big day that's really not that big, but still is. I have the outfit, I have the experience, I have the background about the school, I just hope that we hit it off and they ask me good questions. I emailed Jeff to see if he wanted to meet and chat before hand, but I haven't heard from him, yet...Next time I'm on, we'll know!