What a day. That's the best way to put it I think. This post is probably more of a thought dump/memory rather than a helpful blog post - sorry. Currently am listening to Memories by Maroon 5 as I thought the title would tie in well; lyrics? not so much.

Let's start from the beginning. I fell asleep a little after midnight even when I wanted to sleep before then - ended up helping a friend revise an essay which led to a text conversation. Oh well. But. But, I woke up at 4 randomly and decided to check my phone out of curiosity. And sitting on the top of my email feed was a letter of acceptance from the University of Minnesota. My heart was trying to fall out of my chest, but I had no one to share the news to. I then remembered that my roommate was halfway across the world. Someone to share the good news with.

I was awoken at 7:30 a.m. by a buzzz buzzz of my phone signaling an incoming phone call. To my surprise it was my friend who was also applying to dental schools. We had met at a pre-dental open house, and by some luck became good friends from that 4-hour event. Anyways, he asked if I had gotten into the University of Minnesota (our state school) to which we both soon celebrated quietly as possible. For the next half hour I was able to tell family and friends of the good news: my hard work had finally paid off.

So I was lucky to have five total interviews during this first half of the cycle: UBC, UMN, UMich, UPenn, and OHSU. With UMN out of the way I spent most of the morning wondering if a phone call or email update would appear from the remaining four. There is a Facebook dental application page and SDN forum I followed this morning. Note: not good for limiting anxiety. Anyways it sounded that UMich started to call starting at 9 EST. UPenn also started to call but was doing so alphabetically starting around 10 EST. Taking the morning off from work, I hoped that something would happen. Unfortunately nothing did, and it was lunch time. I got some lunch to take my mind off of things.

At this time I was feeling a little down. I know that you only needed one school to become a dentist, but I felt as though my hard work warranted at least one other school. Maybe it was the ability to have options or to say I got into more than one, but at the moment I was pretty dang bummed. I was particularly hoping for OHSU as I really enjoyed the school and the location from my interview months back. My brother and I then went ice skating which helped get my mind distracted. To be honest, the thought of a phone call still was in my subconscious.

By the time we got back home it was 3PM and I thought to just do something else so I began to work on my graphene comps. I got a notification around 4 saying a student with the last name starting with R got accepted from UPenn. "Hmmm" , I thought, maybe my name will be called soon. Thirty minutes later, I got a buzzz buzzz from my phone to which the caller ID said Philla. Pressing that green button so quickly, I was greeted by a friendly voice who eventually said I was accepted. My body was re-energized; I did some pull-ups and push-ups to get the energy expelled. An hour later, following some relaxing yoga, another email notification told me I was also accepted to OHSU. It was a great sequence of events.

My brother ended up buying me dinner which I was thankful for - it was one of my favorite meals (Vietnamese Salad). I soon realized that due to some pre-dental requirements that I would need to make my decision between schools by the end of tomorrow 12/16. There's a lot there so maybe I can update shortly? It sounds like it will be a tough decision between these three schools. Wow so much in life can change in day.

Oh - all my friends and family were so supportive today it was crazy. I feel so blessed to have these figures in my life. They really made this day special. I think the family is planning to celebrate this Friday with dinner - looking forward to it. Whatever my decision is, I think it will turn out for the best. That's how life goes sometimes: so many decisions and chance events that culminate in an experience. I'm just happy to be here.

My mind is racing with all the commotion; I think it's time to sign off. This was really some poor writing, but understandable. What a day. Ta-Ta