First interview down.
Wednesday morning at work was nice and slow, so it wasn't an issue when I took off at 1 to head over to the airport for my flight. Got there with loads of time to spare, so I hung out at Gustav's, devoured a delicious chicken sandwich, and read outlines of upcoming lectures for my ornithology and nutrition classes, as I'll have missed a week of them by the time I'm done with the interviews. My final date for the OSU interview is Wednesday at 1.
My flight was uneventful except for us flying over MASSES of snow, to my surprise. I also saw an awesome tanager-orange-and-yellow sunset over the clouds, which was nifty. I got to the Ontario airport (Ontario in Southern CA, not Ontario, Canada, hehe) at 6:45 and called my hotel for my free shuttle ride. They came out just for me and that way my lazy self didn't have to rent a car. :-P
Service was great at the Shiloh Inn. The only things that were lame were the food at the Sports Bar across the way (pretty mediocre, poor service, and atrocious local live comedy), and the fact that my room smelled very strongly of old lady bath powder. If I'd had allergies I would've been in a world of hurt. Luckily the smell dissipated somewhat with time, but it was pretty potent. I spent the night lounging on the king-sized bed, reviewing my answers to behavioral interview questions, and talking with my Ben, who was by now only an hour away. :-D
I was supposed to be at Western University at 8:15 for the start of the activities, but there was a shuttle of other students going to Western at 7, so I went with them (and again, free! plus I got a student rate at the hotel, so only $85 including tax!). Everyone was wearing a suit or suit-like items and we were all dead quiet in the van. Once we were dropped off though someone asked what we were all there for, and we were all there for the vet school. So the 7 of us started chatting, and while we waited inside, being an hour early, we struck up some card games of Go Fish! and Concentration, lol. It helped with the nerves for us all to be a little goofy together.
By 8:15 we all had our name badges and info pamphlets and coffee and breakfasty items. The first item on the agenda was a talk from the Dean, who was a badass. The school's big thing is that it's into problem-based learning, wherein you work with a small group of classmates on sample cases, learning all sorts of aspects of vet med all at once, and largely on your own, instead of sitting in a lecture hall learning 10 weeks of anatomy, then 10 weeks of physiology, then 10 weeks of x or y, THEN putting it all together 3 years into the program when you finally get to touch real animals. At Western you start doing clinical skills your first week, in addition to the problem-based learning. It just makes so much more sense to work in such a holistic fashion right from the beginning than it does to try and put it all together at the very end. As I listened to the Dean talk about PBL, and about the school's reverence for life and refusal to harm animals in order to teach us how to cure them, I started aching desperately -- I wanted to go here so badly. I wanted it more than I've wanted anything... it was right up there with wanting to be with Ben. I've felt VERY few things so strongly.
After the Dean's talk we split up into groups. My group did a Q&A with current students first for half an hour, then it was on to our interviews.
Urgh. I was definitely a moron on one question for sure. Name a time you solved a problem creatively. My mind utterly blanked. I do creative things all the time for FUN, not for work! I couldn't come up with anything and just started blathering about organizing kennels at work, for Chrissakes. It was pretty horrible. The rest of the questions I feel I did better on, but I don't know that the Real Gina (TM) really showed through as much as I was hoping, and blargh. :-/ But later an admissions counselor told me and another person who wasn't satisfied with their interview that "These behavioral-based interviews are designed to NOT make you feel good afterwards!" So... maybe it's normal to feel like a dumbass after. o_O Well, it was really only that one question I was really lame with, the others were okay... they will mail out letters of acceptance March 15, so we'll see, I guess.
The rest of the morning was filled with a presentation about student life and another Q&A with students, and then a tour of campus, which is itty bitty! It's smaller than Willamette! There are no dorms and it's all small medical programs, so yeah, very tiny place. After the tour we met up with the other groups for an overview of financial aid and insurance and whatnot, had some lunch, and then got to do a sample PBL session about an ailing centipede, lol. Plus the session started out with a HOGWARTS sketch!!! "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Veterinary Witchcraft and Wizardry!" And there were pictures of everybody dressed up as Harry Potter folks! How is this not the school for me!!!!!
So... yeah. I was extraordinarily impressed. It's tiny, it's wonderful, the PBL sounds amazing, everyone was incredibly nice, it's extremely noncompetitive and all about everyone succeeding, in your 4th year you can go pretty much anywhere in the country and even world for internships, it's a mere HOUR away from my boyfriend, the high cost of living is factored into your financial aid, and and and and and. Yeah. I want this school. I kind of wish I'd interviewed at the other places first because I feel my heart won't be in those interviews. :-/ But I know I should do as well as I can, just in case. I have about a 1-4 to 1-3 chance of getting in out of the people they interviewed. So... yeah. Keep your fingers crossed, folks.
After the orientation was over, I still had several hours to kill before Ben's roommate got out of class and could come pick me up. I went and bought a Rabies Virus Giant Microbe from the itsy bitsy student store, switched my high heels out for a kitten-heeled sandal, and wandered around the tiny campus for a little. When I ran out of places on campus to explore, I ventured into downtown Pomona. There was a Subway, about 20 antique stores, my bank (w00t! won't need a new bank account down here!), a railroad station, plenty of mourning doves, some fountains, two tiny music stores, and not much else. Downtown Salem kicks downtown Pomona'a ass. Not the most stimulating place, and rather sketchy. Not a place you want to wander around at night. Campus has security guards 24-7. I wandered around in circles exploring for a good 3 hours, getting hotter and hotter in the California sun, getting dehydrated, getting my feet sore, and feeling lame about how I'd been in the interview. When Ben called to check in I got all stressed out, as Dad had just called to grill me about the interview ("NO, Dad, they did not offer me a spot immediately, the interviewers don't even decide the thing! Stop asking me that!"), but Ben found me a Starbucks to go crash at a few blocks away. I revived after a bagel, a chai latte, and a tea, and worked on drawing some more bird flashcards for ornithology.
At 7:30 Ben, his roomie and his roomie's girlfriend came to pick me up. We got dinner at TGIF's and then headed to LA and Ben's dormpartment at USC.
The time at USC was awesome. There was mad snuggling with the Ben. There was Ben-instigated DANCING. There was hangoutage with Maria. There was way too much sun and walking, lol. It was an awesome trip and so so so wonderful to see my Ben again. God, he is just the most amazing, wonderful thing in my life... getting to be with him again just overwhelms me with gratitude and joy and love and all that schmoopy stuff. <3 I think I'll go crank out a post on the schmoopy Benstuffs filter, haha, I'm that moony right now. He really is the bestest though, I'm telling you guys. :)
So yeah. Good trip. Can't say I'm glad to be back and to have left Ben, but it had to be done, alas. My flight back was uneventful except for one of our clients from work being a flight attendant! He was all startled when I asked if I knew him and then I was like "zomg do you have a cat named Cobi?" and he was all "WTF, yes I do?" and I was like "oh hai I work at your vet." Hehehe. Later he was all telling me about how they want to do an ultrasound for the kitty as she's feeling poorly and then he asked if I wanted a Bloody Mary or some champagne, hehehe. Good times. Small world!
I think I am off now to eat some foodstuffs. I shall return with gushing about Ben in due time, hehe. Ciao!
My flight was uneventful except for us flying over MASSES of snow, to my surprise. I also saw an awesome tanager-orange-and-yellow sunset over the clouds, which was nifty. I got to the Ontario airport (Ontario in Southern CA, not Ontario, Canada, hehe) at 6:45 and called my hotel for my free shuttle ride. They came out just for me and that way my lazy self didn't have to rent a car. :-P
Service was great at the Shiloh Inn. The only things that were lame were the food at the Sports Bar across the way (pretty mediocre, poor service, and atrocious local live comedy), and the fact that my room smelled very strongly of old lady bath powder. If I'd had allergies I would've been in a world of hurt. Luckily the smell dissipated somewhat with time, but it was pretty potent. I spent the night lounging on the king-sized bed, reviewing my answers to behavioral interview questions, and talking with my Ben, who was by now only an hour away. :-D
I was supposed to be at Western University at 8:15 for the start of the activities, but there was a shuttle of other students going to Western at 7, so I went with them (and again, free! plus I got a student rate at the hotel, so only $85 including tax!). Everyone was wearing a suit or suit-like items and we were all dead quiet in the van. Once we were dropped off though someone asked what we were all there for, and we were all there for the vet school. So the 7 of us started chatting, and while we waited inside, being an hour early, we struck up some card games of Go Fish! and Concentration, lol. It helped with the nerves for us all to be a little goofy together.
By 8:15 we all had our name badges and info pamphlets and coffee and breakfasty items. The first item on the agenda was a talk from the Dean, who was a badass. The school's big thing is that it's into problem-based learning, wherein you work with a small group of classmates on sample cases, learning all sorts of aspects of vet med all at once, and largely on your own, instead of sitting in a lecture hall learning 10 weeks of anatomy, then 10 weeks of physiology, then 10 weeks of x or y, THEN putting it all together 3 years into the program when you finally get to touch real animals. At Western you start doing clinical skills your first week, in addition to the problem-based learning. It just makes so much more sense to work in such a holistic fashion right from the beginning than it does to try and put it all together at the very end. As I listened to the Dean talk about PBL, and about the school's reverence for life and refusal to harm animals in order to teach us how to cure them, I started aching desperately -- I wanted to go here so badly. I wanted it more than I've wanted anything... it was right up there with wanting to be with Ben. I've felt VERY few things so strongly.
After the Dean's talk we split up into groups. My group did a Q&A with current students first for half an hour, then it was on to our interviews.
Urgh. I was definitely a moron on one question for sure. Name a time you solved a problem creatively. My mind utterly blanked. I do creative things all the time for FUN, not for work! I couldn't come up with anything and just started blathering about organizing kennels at work, for Chrissakes. It was pretty horrible. The rest of the questions I feel I did better on, but I don't know that the Real Gina (TM) really showed through as much as I was hoping, and blargh. :-/ But later an admissions counselor told me and another person who wasn't satisfied with their interview that "These behavioral-based interviews are designed to NOT make you feel good afterwards!" So... maybe it's normal to feel like a dumbass after. o_O Well, it was really only that one question I was really lame with, the others were okay... they will mail out letters of acceptance March 15, so we'll see, I guess.
The rest of the morning was filled with a presentation about student life and another Q&A with students, and then a tour of campus, which is itty bitty! It's smaller than Willamette! There are no dorms and it's all small medical programs, so yeah, very tiny place. After the tour we met up with the other groups for an overview of financial aid and insurance and whatnot, had some lunch, and then got to do a sample PBL session about an ailing centipede, lol. Plus the session started out with a HOGWARTS sketch!!! "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Veterinary Witchcraft and Wizardry!" And there were pictures of everybody dressed up as Harry Potter folks! How is this not the school for me!!!!!
So... yeah. I was extraordinarily impressed. It's tiny, it's wonderful, the PBL sounds amazing, everyone was incredibly nice, it's extremely noncompetitive and all about everyone succeeding, in your 4th year you can go pretty much anywhere in the country and even world for internships, it's a mere HOUR away from my boyfriend, the high cost of living is factored into your financial aid, and and and and and. Yeah. I want this school. I kind of wish I'd interviewed at the other places first because I feel my heart won't be in those interviews. :-/ But I know I should do as well as I can, just in case. I have about a 1-4 to 1-3 chance of getting in out of the people they interviewed. So... yeah. Keep your fingers crossed, folks.
After the orientation was over, I still had several hours to kill before Ben's roommate got out of class and could come pick me up. I went and bought a Rabies Virus Giant Microbe from the itsy bitsy student store, switched my high heels out for a kitten-heeled sandal, and wandered around the tiny campus for a little. When I ran out of places on campus to explore, I ventured into downtown Pomona. There was a Subway, about 20 antique stores, my bank (w00t! won't need a new bank account down here!), a railroad station, plenty of mourning doves, some fountains, two tiny music stores, and not much else. Downtown Salem kicks downtown Pomona'a ass. Not the most stimulating place, and rather sketchy. Not a place you want to wander around at night. Campus has security guards 24-7. I wandered around in circles exploring for a good 3 hours, getting hotter and hotter in the California sun, getting dehydrated, getting my feet sore, and feeling lame about how I'd been in the interview. When Ben called to check in I got all stressed out, as Dad had just called to grill me about the interview ("NO, Dad, they did not offer me a spot immediately, the interviewers don't even decide the thing! Stop asking me that!"), but Ben found me a Starbucks to go crash at a few blocks away. I revived after a bagel, a chai latte, and a tea, and worked on drawing some more bird flashcards for ornithology.
At 7:30 Ben, his roomie and his roomie's girlfriend came to pick me up. We got dinner at TGIF's and then headed to LA and Ben's dormpartment at USC.
The time at USC was awesome. There was mad snuggling with the Ben. There was Ben-instigated DANCING. There was hangoutage with Maria. There was way too much sun and walking, lol. It was an awesome trip and so so so wonderful to see my Ben again. God, he is just the most amazing, wonderful thing in my life... getting to be with him again just overwhelms me with gratitude and joy and love and all that schmoopy stuff. <3 I think I'll go crank out a post on the schmoopy Benstuffs filter, haha, I'm that moony right now. He really is the bestest though, I'm telling you guys. :)
So yeah. Good trip. Can't say I'm glad to be back and to have left Ben, but it had to be done, alas. My flight back was uneventful except for one of our clients from work being a flight attendant! He was all startled when I asked if I knew him and then I was like "zomg do you have a cat named Cobi?" and he was all "WTF, yes I do?" and I was like "oh hai I work at your vet." Hehehe. Later he was all telling me about how they want to do an ultrasound for the kitty as she's feeling poorly and then he asked if I wanted a Bloody Mary or some champagne, hehehe. Good times. Small world!
I think I am off now to eat some foodstuffs. I shall return with gushing about Ben in due time, hehe. Ciao!