Interview Updates

So I am sure that you all are just DYING to know how my interviews went. I will start from the beginning of my journey.

It all started Friday morning. I woke up at 5 a.m. to leave by 5:30 and make it to the airport by 6:30.... I thought that you needed about 2 hours to check in and go through security- but apparently that early in the morning it only takes about 7 minutes. So... I sat by the terminal for a couple of hours. In my suit. Playing with my iPod and mentally preparing for questions regarding my future. The flight went well and I was picked up by my Aunt Anne (Tiff's Aunt) in Vegas and I went to their house and watched 70's game shows for a bit. We then went our way towards UNLV campus to find the Bigelow Health science building. As we were stopped in the left turn lane right outside campus on Tropicana Ave, a very bad car crash occured. On the street running perpendicular to ours there was a very nice, very new Mercedes turning left onto the road we were on. The driver gunned it hard and plowed this old blue cavalere that was trying to turn right onto the same road. The cars then both ran into the car that I was in, and luckily it didn't do very much damage to our car. Here is a diagram if you are confused:When everything settled the old blue car was turned 180 degrees and up against the front of our car. Their airbags had deployed and there was a lot of smoke coming out from under the mangled hood. The woman in the drivers seat started yelling for someone to help her out and the man in the passenger seat started making scared yelling noises. As I got out of the car to help them, the male passenger got out and yelled "What the **** were you thinking????" to the Mercedes driver, and then clutched his chest. He staggered to the curb still clutching his chest and was obviously not okay. His screams were a bit too dramatic even if he was actually dying, so that's why he is labeled 'Drama King' on the diagram. I went to him to help him to the ground and to calm him down. I called the police and told them to get police and an ambulance there immediately, and then waited. We had the guy lay on the ground and relax until people got there. When paramedics arrived, I told Anne that I was sorry but I had to go to my interview that started in 30 minutes, since I had to walk there now and I didn't know where the building was. She was fine with that, and I asked a woman at the scene if she knew where the building was. She happened to be the Manager of the Graduate and Professional Student Association, so she directed me and gave me her card. An officer on scene told me I needed to stay for the report, but I left my name and number and sneaked away...

I arrived to the interview on time, and all was well. They gave us name tags and put us in a large room with all of the other interviewees so that we could socialize and get to know each other- I think it is really so that they can see if you are able to make conversation with people that you have never met before, so I turned on the social butterfly Zak and met a bunch of people. They then took us on a tour of campus, which is nice- the scenery isn't very impressive, but some of their buildings are great. They just built a new work out facility that is awesome. SO NICE. It looks like a brand new Golds gym or something like that... anywho, after that we had individual interviews. I was interviewed by one faculty member and a local physical therapist. I felt it went well- it was only about 20 minutes- and then they sent us back to the room with all the people. Seriously way too much time meeting people. The whole thing was 5 hours long and maybe an hour and a half of that was made up of tours and interview. The rest was talking to strangers. Ugg. Needless to say afterwards I was exhausted, and I had to make it to the airport to catch my next flight. My cousin Ambree got out of class at UNLV at the same time I got out of the interview, so she gave me a ride. A few hours later I was in Spokane, Washington getting a rental car to drive to my hotel. It was about 10:30 p.m. and the city was covered in very thick fog. Finding my way from the airport to the city was SCARY. I could not see any signs until I was about 10 feet away from them, and it was hard to see the highway itself. It wasn't too far away though, so I made it just fine. When I arrived at the Travelodge they had no parking and I had to find a spot next door at a car repair place- then I found that they had no record of my reservation. SWEET. They did have an available room, so no prob there. I slept well in the stinky room, and I went to the next interview at Eastern Washington.

I really like the facilities in Washington. They are NICE. They have a brand new building and everything is state of the art- the only problem is that they interviewed 180 people! How many do they take? Right. 38. So That means that they had about 480 applicants, cut 300, and had 180 people fly to their school to have an interview. Doesn't that seem a bit overkill?? That is a lot of people that have pay to travel to your school without getting accepted. Lame. Anyways, the interviews here consisted of one faculty member and two students interviewing a group of 6 applicants. So they would ask a question and have each person answer the question. It lasted about 40 minutes, and then I was out of there. The interview ended at 12:20 and I had my flight leaving at 1:14. It was stressful!! I ran to my rental car and sped to the airport, not filling the car back up with gas for fear of missing my flight. I had only driven about 15 miles all together, so I figured they probably wouldn't even notice any gas being gone. I made it to the airport in time, got through security, and I still had about 30 minutes to spare. I think they have really made the airport a faster place to get through.

For now, I have heard back from UNLV. The verdict: I am on their alternate list. BLAST! Hopefully people choose other schools!!! I haven't heard from Washington yet, so we will see! Both schools received about 480 applications this year, so I think it is still pretty good to get on the alternate list... I just hope this fiasco wasn't all for naught.