It was so stressful. At the time I was applying to WVU I was working full-time as an MLT and finishing my undergrad with full-time enrollment. The thing that held me up the most was the personal statement. I had no idea what to say or what they were looking for. I still don't know what they were looking for but I must've said something right to get here.
I set a deadline for myself of March 15th so that I wouldn't spend the entire application period agonizing over whether what I wrote was good enough. Not long after I submitted my app I heard from Justin Falcon about a 15 minute preliminary interview over Zoom. My interview was in the afternoon but I took the entire day off work and skipped class so I could rearrange my living room to create a professional looking background. I spent the rest of the day practicing interview questions with my turtle. I don't recall a single thing from that interview other than the fact that there were 3 people on the call which was a surprise. Like any nervous applicant who only applied to one school I spent a good long time second guessing everything I said after the interview was over. Luckily I only had to wait a few days before I heard that I got an in-person interview.
Unfortunately, in the two weeks between my preliminary and in-person interviews I was tragically struck by a 2023 Volkswagen Jetta while riding my bike home from work. Womp womp. My mom had already offered to drive me to the interview so I decided not to postpone it. I genuinely believed ten days would be enough to recover from the accident and be ready for a two hour interview and twelve hour road trip. I would turn out to be wrong about that.
My interview was on a Monday so my mom and I took a long weekend to give me an extra day to look around and see what Morgantown was like. That was the plan anyway. In reality I was so tired and in so much pain that I spent a lot of time taking naps and watching HGTV at the hotel. It rained most of the time I was there too which made any outdoor adventuring impossible. We did ride the PRT (don't recommend), walk around campus and check out some apartments though.
The interview itself was a surprisingly good time. I can't remember which 5 people were on my interview panel but they laughed at my jokes and created a much more welcoming atmosphere than I expected. My favorite part was meeting Alyssa and Miranda in the gross room after the formal interview. Alyssa and I both grew up in Indiana and enjoyed weighlifting so it was a nice conversation after answering a bunch of formal interview questions. After that I was given a tour by a current student. He asked at the end if I had any questions and I said nope my brain is fried. I walked out of there feeling pretty good about my performance and hopeful that I would be accepted.
The wait after the interview wasn't too nerve wracking. The hard part was over. I either got in or I didn't. After about 6 weeks of waiting I got the call from Justin offering me a spot in the program. I will say I did have to wait longer than other applicants because I had to graduate and submit my final transcript. My classmates who had graduated in previous years heard back earlier.
After that there wasn't much to do for a couple months. Finding a place to live in a college town isn't super challenging and there wasn't a whole lot of admissions paperwork to do. You do need some titers done which is how I found out that I'm not immune to chickenpox but any PCP should be able to take care of that. I enjoyed what was left of my time in Iowa and got ready to move.
Below: First (and last) time on the PRT (personal rapid transit) aka an absolute nightmare. It's like riding an old wooden rollercoaster with all of the bumpiness and jostling but none of the fun.
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