Blessings and Joy Heaped Beyond Measure

     It has been very difficult these last few weeks to keep silent about my interviews and hearing back from PA programs. It's a great relief to finally talk about how they went and what's happening in the future. The short story is that I'm starting PA school this year!! Here's the longer story: 

Just beyond Deadman Pass

     My first interview was at Idaho State University, which has two different campuses for its PA program. My interview was supposed to take place in Pocatello, the main campus in southeastern Idaho. The day before the interview my mother and I drove to Boise, arriving safely despite the snow we encountered while crossing the Blue Mountains (which was the heaviest as we passed through the alarmingly named "Deadman Pass"). That night we heard repeated warnings about road closures and accidents due to the snow. My interview wasn't until 2 pm, but we planned to leave early the next morning so we'd have plenty of buffer time for bad weather. We never left. 

Driving back through the Elkhorn Mountains

     During breakfast I received a call saying the Pocatello campus was closed due to the weather and road conditions (the first time in years that this had happened). However, they were willing to open the campus for the interviews since most of the applicants were from out of town. When ISU learned where I was they suggested a safer alternative to driving hours through hazardous roads: I could simply go to their Meridian campus just outside of Boise and conduct my interviews via video conferencing. I'll admit that it felt a little weird to do an interview with someone via video but it worked quite well, and it really was the best choice. Everyone at ISU was very friendly and made me feel quite comfortable. 

It was a bit cold in Baker City.

     Once the interview was over my mom and I were able to begin our journey back home. That night we stopped in historic Baker City to get well rested before finishing the last 5 hours of the 8 hour drive and to celebrate my first interview. We soon had added reason to celebrate. ISU uses a system for their PA program that allows them to give almost immediate feedback on an applicant's acceptance status. Applicants are given a score based on a few pieces, the interview being the last one, and applicants with a certain score or higher are automatically offered a seat in the program. Everyone else is considered "in review" until interviews are completed, though they can ask the school at any time where they are in the rankings. Shortly after arriving at our hotel for the night, I received an email saying that my status had been updated. I went to the site to check it, fully expecting to see that I was "in review" and was absolutely floored to see this: 

There was great celebrating in Baker City that night. And tears. And excitement. And laughs of disbelief. The celebration did not end that night. I came home the next day to find this: 

My dad was very proud of his decorations. 

     A few days later I left home again, this time on an airplane to southern California for an interview at Western University of Health Sciences. While I flew down alone, I was again blessed to go to this interview with family. My dad's sister's family lives just north of LA I was lucky enough to spend almost two whole days with my aunt and uncle. I don't get to see them nearly enough so it was a real treat. My aunt was amazing and even drove me to my interview, which was quite an act of love considering check-in was at 7:30 am and Pomona is about 2 hours from my aunt and uncle's house. It was a very early morning, but we made it, and even had time to stop for breakfast along the way. 

Another testament to my aunt's love for me.

     I'll admit that I hadn't been sure how I'd felt about Western before I arrived. Talking with an alumna, as well as my own research of the program, had made me feel that perhaps Western was not a good match for me. Being there definitely improved my opinion. I still felt that perhaps I was better suited for ISU, due in part that I still have the native Oregonian's dislike of California and find the constant heat and sunshine unnatural, but the people at Western were quite nice and helpful. They even included tips on financial aid that were applicable for any PA program. The interviews were also over quickly, which meant that my aunt and I got to have a little fun at Disneyland before meeting up with my uncle for my last night there. No matter how I may feel about year-round warmth and lack of seasons, I have to say that it was nice to wear sandals and actually feel heat from the sun again. I needed that extra warmth because just three days after returning home from California I boarded another flight, this time to Massachusetts, my home for my undergrad years. 

Boston Public Gardens at night

     My trip to Massachusetts was a bit of a mini-vacation, something I certainly needed after the recent craziness of work, EMT classes, and interviews. I was able to spend a week just catching up and hanging out with friends, including my professors and bosses from college, as well as just generally relaxing, preparing for my final interview, and getting caught up on work. Finally, the day arrived. The night before my interview at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University (a ridiculously long name, I know) I'd headed into Boston to stay with a friend there so I wouldn't have far to go in the morning. My friend lived conveniently close to a T stop so all I had to do was hop on and ride to the Longwood Medical Area. 

     I'd had a feeling before I even made it to the interview that MCPHS was my top choice school. For anyone who read the post about my "belated birthday present," MCPHS is the school to which I was referring. Still, there was always the possibility that I would get there and something would radically change my mind. One question I was very curious about was how MCPHS did their anatomy labs. One of the alumna from Western University had informed me that the PA students there had a lab to go along with their anatomy class, but they didn't actually do the dissections; the medical students did and they just watched. I then asked an alumna from ISU about their anatomy classes and found out they don't even have labs, basing this policy on the fact that a PA cannot simply open up their patients to look inside them and figure out what's wrong. I sort of understand that, but at the same time, surgery is a required clinical rotation, and I just think it is very important to have an excellent understanding of the internal anatomy of a human person if you are going to correctly diagnose and treat them. Before I could even ask someone about the labs at MCPHS, a faculty member answered my question: they didn't have enough room on their facilities for an anatomy lab, so instead they purchase cadavers for the PA students and then have them walk across the street to use the anatomy lab at Harvard School of Medicine... which is just awesome. It's pretty much one of the best setups I could imagine.  

The Longwood Medical Area with MCPHS highlighted

      As I mentioned earlier, MCPHS is in the Longwood Medical Area, pictured above. For those of you who don't know, this area is one of the most highly concentrated areas of medical learning, research and practice in the country. I already mentioned that the Harvard Medical School is across the street, but just a block or so in other directions there are Simmons College and Emmanuel College, to name a few of the other colleges in the area. Northeastern University is a bit further down and MIT is just across the Charles River. When it comes to hospitals and medical research centers, the Longwood Medical Area is also home to some of the best. Brigham and Women's Hospital is just two blocks away, Dana-Farber is next to that, and the Joslin Diabetes Center is next to that. If you want to know all the universities, hospitals and research centers in the area, just look at the Wikipedia page. What I'm saying, in short, is that MCPHS has one of the best locations of any of the PA programs in the country, and it's really rather exciting. This is just another reason why I wanted to attend MCPHS, and why I really wanted to make a good impression at my interviews. 

     This post has already become rather long, so I'm going to try to wrap it up quickly. Here's the dealio: the interview day (applicants were given an overview of the program, a lecture, a timed written essay, lunch, time with members of the student association, and a tour before the actual interviews) went really well. I felt super comfortable and I left the campus thinking that I truly wanted to be accepted to this program. I flew home though thinking that I would have to wait a whole month before I heard anything. It was an amazing surprise when I arrived home early from work two Saturdays ago and saw the lovely letter to the right waiting for me. I could barely make it into the house because I was basically bawling my eyes out with tears of joy. It still seems hard to believe. I feel so incredibly blessed. Not only am I going to be starting PA school this fall, something I'd been sure would probably not be for another year, but I get to go to my first choice school. I look forward to where God will lead these next three years. It's quite an adventure I'm starting and I want to thank all the friends and family who have supported me the whole way. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Coming Soon: There seems to be a lot of confusion about what a PA is and what they do, so I'll be clearing that up in my next post. :)

The Waiting Game

Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams from the flight home.

     Now comes one of my least favorite parts of applying to PA schools: the waiting. The crazy month of interviews is over and now things are out of my hands. There is nothing left for me to do but wait. Well, wait and work that is. My boss was nice enough to let me take off half the month of January in order to travel to my interviews so now I'm definitely going to be making up for all that time off by working much more than usual. I'm certainly not complaining though. From everything I've heard, PA schools are very intense and most schools actually forbid their students from working while they're in the program, so I have no problem with working a lot now so I can completely focus on school later. Now the big question is: which school will it be? The schools at which I interviewed all have different time schedules for when they make their final decisions, so I will be hearing from them at various times. The latest I should hear back would be late March, but most of the schools said they'd get back to me by the end of this month. Until then, I'm going to enjoy my time at home and try to be patient.