Sunday, March 15, 2009

Graduate school interviews

Many people had been asking about graduate school through the winter, and I was deliberately avoiding the issue and here's why: it wasn't going the way I had anticipated. I applied to 6 schools, and you always expect some rejections, but not all of them to be rejections.

Tim and I were excited to use this as a chance to leave Wisconsin and explore some other part of the country. I applied to 2 schools on the west coast, 2 in the midwest, and 2 on the east coast. We were excited to go anywhere but Madison. Nothing is wrong with Madison, but I've been living here for 6 years, Tim has been in Wisconsin his ENTIRE life, and we were ready to try something different.

But luck would not have it that way. I did not get into any of the other 5 schools I applied to, but I did get an interview at Wisconsin. The interview went really well, and all of my recommendations were coming from the pathology department, and shortly after my interview I was offered a spot in the University of Wisconsin Cellular and Molecular Pathology department.

I was excited, but not as excited as I would have been to go somewhere else. I wanted to explore a new city, meet all new professors and staff and faculty, get lost finding classes, find a new apartment, go on an adventure and try something different. Tim and I were ready to go, but I think I reached high and fell short. It me me some time to get really excited, because nothing in my life changed leading up to graduate school. I would keep working, I didn't have to move, I could make plans for month into the future, etc.

But I am excited. I'm starting graduate school, making new friends, taking new classes, and starting my rotations! But more on that later, I'm trying to stick to a chronological update!

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