15 days and roughly 7 minutes until I move the tassel to the other side, and walk off the stage. Behind will be four AMAZING years, and ahead of me….. Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I have actually been accepted, and will be beginning a journey I have waited so long for.
I think my mind is still riveted in that fragment of time in October when I pushed the Submit button on my VMCAS Application (Veterinary Medical College Application Service). My roommate Melissa amped up her guitar and strummed some encouraging chords, in hopes to make the process go a little smoother. I just sat there, not quite ready to rid myself of the money it took to apply, not quite ready to acknowledge the fact that once I pushed that button, my life could be headed in a new direction. After a few more minutes of staring at the screen, with Melissa’s “Just do it already!,” echoing through my head, I sent my application into cyberspace, where it would end up on the screens of four colleges I hoped would accept me.
Melissa ended up taking my printed application away and hiding it. All I wanted to do was pour through it and find the mistakes that would prevent me from getting accepted. With that out of the way, all I could do was put everything in God’s hands and pray that I would be going to veterinary school in the fall. I heard from Colorado first. It was somewhat crushing to find out I had not been accepted there. I think it was more the idea of the fact that I had been denied somewhere than the fact that Colorado had said no. After that, I heard nothing. The waiting game was torturous. The two schools most important to me were MSU and Purdue. By the end of December, I was asking my parents every time I talked to them if something came in the mail, I checked my email routinely. NOTHING!
Early January came, with a letter from Purdue inviting me for an interview. Things were looking up! My friends Jenn and Stephanie ended up having their interviews at the same time. It was nice to have familiar faces with me. We had prepped for the interview before we went down, but once in the room, with three serious, solemn people shooting questions, the task seemed quite daunting. Nevertheless, I made it through, we all did actually. ANDDD so continued the waiting game.
February 15 came. A cloudy day, with a Eukaryotic Biology exam smack in the middle. YUCK. The test came and went and as I was walking out the door of Anthony Hall, I got an unknown call on my phone. I don’t usually answer unknown calls, but this one I did. Dean Willie Reed from Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine was on the other end, and what he had to say to me erased my worries about the exam I had just taken. (I did 4.0 that exam if you were wondering). As I later found out, I was the first one to get a call from Purdue, offering me a seat in the Veterinary Medicine Class of 2015. Wowza. Accepted to Purdue, now what about MSU?
Soon after my call from Dean Reed, I received a letter from MSU. Alternate list. Ah, so now the question would be, wait for MSU to say I’m accepted? Or say yes to Purdue? Purdue it is! I will have to admit, I probably would have said yes to Purdue even if I had gotten a yes from MSU. In-state tuition will be a God-send, and I think I’m ready for a new change. Purdue has so much to offer me, and I hope I can step up to the challenge.