Only the beginning

The BEST thing about this blog post is that I get to say that I am now a PA student. I GOT INTO PA SCHOOL!!!

I applied back in in the Spring/Summer of 2010 to the 2 schools here in AZ: AT Still and Midwestern. Both great schools. One significantly closer to my house than the other. AT Still is 14 miles from my house and Midwestern is 50 miles! I was offered an interview at Midwestern and had that in the beginning of September. Soon after I got a letter saying I was on the waitlist. Not the greatest news but somewhat expected. I was in their first weekend of interviews and they said they won't fill all of their spots right away because they have interviews for almost 5 months. They usually call people off their waitlist in Spring. So I waited.

AT Still finally sent me a letter in Novemeber (while I was away on my honeymoon) saying that I wasn't even getting an interview. I was honestly shocked. So many of my friends with similar credentials as me had interviewed there and got in. It was a sad thing to come home to after our honeymoon : ( So I held on to the small piece of hope that I was on the waitlist at Midwestern.

We survived the holiday season and begin the new year... I told myself that if I hadn't heard anything by March 1st, I would mentally prepare myself for the fact that I wasn't getting in and begin to modify and assemble my application to REapply. Well, March rolls around and began asking my references if they would submit another letter of recommendation for me. One of my references was the head PA at the hospital I work at. She's an awesome PA and I'm a little intimidated by her. I was actually afraid she might say no because she actually limits the number of letters she will write every year. I finally got the courage to talk to her about it and she is all hung up on the fact that I am on the waitlist at Midwestern. She says she has a friend over there (one that she had recently went on a medical trip to Haiti with) that she wants to call and talk to...

She finally talks to her friend a few weeks later and my reference shoots me an email saying:

"Libby, I spoke with my friend ___ at Midwestern today.

I can't promise anything, but keep your fingers crossed."

Eeek! I was so excited but also trying not to be cause it doesn't actually mean anything yet. I get a call. the. next. morning. "Congratulations, you have been accepted into Midwestern's PA program." I get off the phone and burst into tears. My world had been flipped upside down. I had prepped myself for the reality that I had another year of work, reapplication and interviews, and was ready to resubmit my application the very next week! And then? BOOM. I'm in.

The scary part was that I had only 2 months till the first day of class! I got busy getting ready... titers / immunizations, lots of paperwork, LOANS, new laptop, and of course mental preparation. Everyone says PA school is like trying to drink from a fire hose... Can I do this? I kept telling my self yes and hoped it was true.

I have survived 5 weeks now (WOAH! Just realized I am halfway through my first quarter!) and I'm still passing. Woo! It's definitely stressful and has taken some adjustments

for both my husband and me. Driving 100 miles a day (almost 2 hours) really eats up a chunk of everyday and I'm probably only home and awake for about 3 hours. There's not a lot of time to spend together. Especially when I'm always studying.

Anyway, this has gotten long enough. Posts are better with pics. So here is me on my first day of PA school (at 6am). Thanks for rolling out of bed to take this, Scott. It'll make my mom happy : )

And here's a phone pic of the pretty campus:

Back to studying now... See you all in August 2013 after I've graduated! haha