Friday, February 11, 2011

Now what?

I’m taking a break from my regularly scheduled blogging about food, decorating, or my cats to talk a little bit about life.

This is a hard entry for me to write. Even though I had a plan B for myself going into this graduate school process, right now I’m still feeling like, “Now what?” I found out from talking to other interviewees (who were awesome people, I might add) that every campus received about 1,000 applications this year.  That’s 1,000 applicants for 60 spots. That’s a 6% chance of getting in.  Now I did interview at 3 different campuses, so that raises my chances some, but still very competitive. I heard back from Fort Myers about a week after the interview and I’m an alternate for that school. That means if someone decides to go to another school or gets attacked by rabid elephants or something, they might consider me as one of the people who can take their spot. These alternate spots aren’t ranked, and they chose each person on a case-by-case basis. I hate to be overly cynical or negative but I’m not exactly impressed with those chances. However, there is a chance I could receive a call as late as May asking me to get my act together and get ready to attend Fort Myers in June.  I just found out yesterday that I was rejected from my top choice school here in Orlando. Finally, because I was sick and barely had a voice when I did my interview in Jacksonville, I’m not feeling very positive about my chances of getting into that school either.

This has both pros and cons. It leaves me with a lot to figure out.

The major pro is that B and I get to stay in Orlando and that is really important to us.

My plan B is that I would apply to accelerated nursing programs in Orlando and then decide if I would reapply to PA school after a year of being a nurse or pursue the NP route instead. However, the next application cycle isn’t until November. Sidenote: I still have to take nutrition as my last prereq and shadow a few nurses, so it’s good that I will have time to do that before I apply.

 Also, I’ve been working for an agency as a nursing assistant but the gigs I’ve been getting are only for a few hours a week. I’m still holding out that they will find me a regular job. If they don’t I will have to start looking for something else…and I really dread that process.  

So, I’m trying to figure out how exactly I want to do this. In the back of my mind, I’m looking forward to big life changes coming up like possibly buying a house soon now that we know we are staying in Orlando for the long haul. Also, I’m looking forward to planning our wedding. We’re tentatively looking at Fall 2012. I ‘m giddy about having time to read, garden, decorate, travel, and exercise.  Of course, money is an issue for some of those things and depend on me working more hours.

So, basically, I’m still waiting for this all of this to sink in. My plan B makes logical sense to me, but I want to make sure my heart is agreeing with my head. I’m so ready to move onto marriage and home ownership and all those things I feel like I should be experiencing at my age, but I need my career plans to line up first. At least, that’s what I think needs to happen. Right now, the themes of my life are that life happens while I’m making plans and that I make plans and God laughs. Anyone else feeling like this lately? 

2 comments:

A Compassionate Calling said...

I found out today that I'm an alternate at Jax! 3 more months of possibility!

Anonymous said...

Jacksonville > Ft. Myers

Right?

-Sis