Interview #1 - Virginia Commonwealth University

Hey hey hey!

I paid my deposit down at UMich the other day and I am ready to go! Nothing gets me excited for dental school like handing over a check for over a thousand dollars and getting some routine immunizations tomorrow. Joy of joys! It's a good problem to have however, since I know I'm crazy lucky that I have to get immunizations for dental school because, bottom line, I've been accepted to dental school! Anyway.

This post marks the first of my six post series detailing all of my dental school interviews this cycle. I hope you gain some knowledge and also muster a giggle or two among the way.

The first (and last) time I had been to Virginia before going to my interview was my senior year of high school. My friends and I, being the rebels that we are, decided that we would travel to Williamsburg for Spring Break. Between the tri-cornered hats and the colonial get-ups and the absolutely beautiful weather, I fell in love with the state. Truly, down to my core, this is the sole reason I applied to VCU. The possibility of living in Virginia seemed like a dream to me.

I wasn't kidding about the tri-cornered hats...

...or how rebellious we were.

VCU informed me of my interview in mid-September, and they were the second school to do so. I was working at my dental clinic when I got the e-mail and I was ecstatic. I ran around finding all the dentists informing them of the good news. I was going to Virginia! I was going to Virginia? How was I going to get to Virginia?

So after I got the invite, I was given the task of actually getting to Virginia. I haven't been on a plane since I was 6 and the only thing I remember as I was flying back from Walt Disney World was that my parents were too cheap to buy the headphones to listen to the movie and my burger was too dry. Aside from that, I had enjoyed flying so I never had any ill-feelings towards the mode of transportation. Buying the ticket, planning when I had to be where, getting the hotel room and planning the transportation between the airport and the hotel was all inherently stressful, but I was never stressed out about the actual flying part. Many people has phobias of airplanes (my father included - he drove to Florida when we flew), but I was not one of them. Was being the key word here.

Everything was going fine, I was on the plane and ready to go (this being after I had a good-bye with my fiance rivaling that of a sappy '90s romance movie on the Lifetime channel.) The plane was smaller than I had remembered and perhaps I should have been alarmed because of this, but I didn't really understand how flying worked, so I wasn't bothered. We took off and I was looking out the window the entire time, excited for the flight. Then, 5 minutes in, it hit me. And it hit me hard. All of a sudden it occurred to me, I was going to throw up all over the nice man next to me. Panicked, I looked down between my feet to make sure I had my mostly empty purse as a last resort - in case everything really went down-hill. Good, the purse was there.

Then I furiously tapped the "assistance needed" light above my head akin to a two year old that had just inhaled a bag of sweet tarts. The attendant picked up on my emergency and high-tailed it to my seat. "Yes?" She looked down at me eagerly.

"I need a (stomach lurch) bag?" The man next to me shifted in his seat. "I'm so sorry." I glanced at him apologetically. My flight attendant hustled back with a bag, some napkins and a wet-nap. "What hospitality!" I thought to myself as I proceeded to open the bag and, to put it appropriately, release the tension that I had acquired from take-off. And boy was there tension, there was so much tension, I proceeded to release it until 50 minutes later when we had landed at the Philadelphia airport.

I couldn't understand how my body was behaving! This had never happened when I had flown previously. Before I left the plane, the man in the seat next to me shouted over his shoulder, "Well, I hope you feel better now!"

Thank you, anonymous man, and no, I didn't feel better.

To save you the gory details, I had to look forward to my uncooperative gag reflex all four flights. Two to Virginia, two back to Michigan. What a great experience!

Anyway, I landed in Virginia and I used Uber to get to my hotel. I love Uber because it's easy to use and the drivers are extremely nice (in my experience anyway) and an added bonus is that your first drive is free! I saved $30 this way, so it was definitely worth it. (Also, if you would like a free ride, just go here: https://get.uber.com/invite/91quy?lang=en_US) (I just re-read that back and it sounds like an ad but I am not being paid by Uber to say this, although I should be.)

My hotel in Virginia was swanky. It was definitely the nicest hotel I stayed at for interviews and it wasn't even the most expensive one. I also got a discount for saying I was interviewing at VCU (but you already know to do that if you read my Interview Guide!) When I got to my room, I took off my shoes and laid down on my huge bed, waiting for my stomach to settle. I then spent my afternoon walking around the city, which was beautiful, and I even walked to the dental school so that I would know where I was going the next morning. When I got back to the hotel, I ordered enough take-out Chinese food for an entire family (unknowingly) and I drowned my pre-interview nerves in crab ragoons and egg rolls.

Some snap-shots of Richmond I took while exploring the city.

I didn't realize how nervous I was until the morning rolled around and I felt like I was back on that little airplane experiencing turbulence. It was my first interview! I had no idea what to expect and quite frankly I didn't have any faith in my interviewing abilities. But I sucked it up, got ready, texted a picture of my interview outfit to my daddy and started power-walking to the school. Things were going great, I knew where I was going and I had faith in my ability to get there. And then I got a little lost. And then I got really lost. And then I tried to prove Google Maps wrong by walking through a hospital emergency room in order to still arrive on time (btw, Google Maps is never wrong.) After being caught by a woman on the elevator who felt the need to tell me that a string was hanging from my skirt (that's wassup, thanks girl), I hightailed it to the dental school. I was late. OH MY GOSH I WAS LATE. HOW COULD I BE LATE?! I was the poster-child for telling people not to be late! Ah well, I thought, there would probably be lots of people there so they might not notice me slipping in late.

I walked into the office, checked in with the secretary and went into the room with the other interviewees. There were only 10 of us. So that false sense of security washed away quickly. Immediately after I sat down, the dean came into our room and welcomed us. They had been waiting for me. This was the worst. What a great way to start the interview, PJ! I thought to myself still trying to catch my breath from my panicked sprint to the dental school.

The interview day itself was great. We got interviewed by the faculty right after arriving, which I actually preferred because then I could relax the rest of the day. We got interviewed by 2 faculty members and they were about a half hour each. They were very conversational and I actually enjoyed them! What a concept! After the interview we had a tour of the school, and got to see some dental students taking a practical. I thought the school was very nice, and more importantly I loved the people there. The students were so friendly and stopped to talk to us the whole day. After the tour we got to assist/shadow in the clinic and talk to the dental students about anything we wanted to. The two students I got to shadow were so friendly and could tell how nervous I was. "Don't worry," one said, "We don't have any say if you get into the school here or not." I laughed. I still didn't believe them. (I still don't.)

After this we traveled across campus and ate in one of VCU's cafeterias. There was two of us assigned to a dental student that was supposed to be a resource for us to use to ask them anything we wanted to about VCU. After noticing a slip of paper on the door to the room we were eating in said "VCU SoD Interviews" I quickly caught on that this was not just a friendly lunch, but this was part of the interview. It's important to remember that you are always being interviewed. Luckily, our dental student was very friendly and easy to talk to, so I enjoyed my "lunch." *Wink wink*

After lunch, we got to use the DentSim lab. I loved this part of the interview, because it was fun, interactive, and reminded us why we were there. It also didn't hurt that my tooth actually turned out pretty decent! (It's currently in the ring box my engagement ring came in, which is actually pretty funny.)

We then had a discussion on ethics in dentistry and a short writing activity. After that, we said our goodbyes and a group of dental students caught us in the elevator and wished us luck. I then walked home and continued to call my dad on the phone and excitedly tell him about the day.

Overall, I loved VCU. I loved the people, I loved the school, and I loved the weather. I was ecstatic to get an acceptance call from them on December 1st. Maybe in a different lifetime it would have worked out between us, but I just belong elsewhere (that's a good break-up line for those of you looking for some material.)

And that concludes part 1 of my interview series! Stay tuned for part 2 soon where I take on Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

Until next time,
PJ