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.