The Second Round of Applying to Dental School

In an earlier post, I wrote about the first time Robbie applied to Dental School. Here's the second half of that story.



MAY 2011- Getting a Job in a Dental Office
After receiving his rejection letter from the University of Colorado in April, Robbie began the process of re-applying to Dental School.  I had been working at a dental office as a dental rover (read "office gopher") for about a year. An opportunity arose for me to work at the front desk for two out of the four days I worked which left the rover position open for those two days. Robbie cornered my boss and requested/pleaded/begged for the position to add more dental experience to his resume and amazingly my boss agreed!


JULY 2011- Submitting the Application
This time around, Robbie knew it would be better to get his application in earlier (the first time he submitted it in September) so once he had tweaked his personal statement and received a letter of recommendation from our boss, he submitted his application. He applied to fewer schools the second time around because he felt more sure of where he would like to attend: University of Colorado, Midwestern, or Creighton. It was also nice to not have to pay as much and to not have to fill out so many secondary applications! He planned on retaking the D.A.T. but was putting it off until December.

While we were waiting to hear back from schools, Robbie started looking into Nursing School and Chiropractic School but I really felt like God was urging us to not make a back-up plan. I know that could sound a little "unwise" or "over-confident" by worldly standards, but God was challenging us both to trust Him more. With perfect timing, our pastor was preaching on the Exodus story when the Israelites were in the desert living daily off the manna God provided. If they tried to save up extra manna, it would be rotten by the next day. God was teaching them that they didn't need to rely on their own "back-up plans" just in case He failed to provide. I love that God often puts us in situations where we need Him to come through for us and that He loves proving how trustworthy He is!


SEPTEMBER 2011- The Interview
Once again, Robbie only received one interview offer and it was from the University of Colorado. This time around, however, he was in the first group of applicants to be interviewed instead of one of the last. At C.U. you have two separate one-hour long interviews with one staff member at a time. I remember Robbie calling me afterwards to tell me how well both his interviews had gone. Both had taken the full hour and he felt like he made a lasting impression with each staff member. Once again, now all we had to do was wait!


NOVEMBER 2011- The "Let's go to Disneyland for Thanksgiving so we don't think about whether or not you're going to get in to Dental School next week!" Trip
This was actually one of the funnest trips we've been on together. A friend of ours was working at Disneyland at the time so she was able to get us in for free! We ended up going the week after Thanksgiving so there were no lines or crowds and the weather was PERFECT. We seriously rode California Screamin' and Space Mountain over and over with less than 10 minute waits in line. It was an excellent distraction from the nervousness of waiting for the acceptance period to begin on December 1st.


DECEMBER 1st, 2011- Getting "The Call"
On the very first day that Dental Schools are allowed to begin accepting students, Robbie called me at work to let me know he would be starting at C.U. in the fall and he would not need to retake the D.A.T. *COMMENCE RELIEF AND REJOICING!* When I got home that evening, he told me that he was hanging out with his friend Brian when the school called to accept him. When he got off the phone with them, he had to ask Brian if the phone conversation really had just taken place and that he wasn't going crazy. About a week later he received his acceptance letter in the mail confirming that he had not, in fact, gone crazy.


It's amazing to see God's perfect provision in keeping Robbie from getting in the first time around. Robbie's class is slightly older on average and many of them are married with kids. His personality fits so well with his group compared to the second years. I know that many of the friendships we've made with his classmates and their wives will be lifelong friendships and we probably wouldn't have met these specific people if he had gotten in the first time he applied. Additionally, after applying the first time, we moved in with his parents so that we wouldn't have to start a new lease somewhere before moving for school. It enabled us to put money in savings and it helped me to get so much closer to his parents. Robbie and I both had an extra year to mature and grow as a married couple before he started Dental School. We would've missed out on all these benefits if things had gone the way we originally wanted! God really isn't joking when He says that He knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper and not harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future.


"Oh LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thoughts from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night," even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." -Psalm 139:1-16

Our Dental Journey (Part I)

I've been trying to decide what to write about for my blog post today and I found inspiration on another Dental wife's blog (thanks Kate!). She had written about the process her husband went through to get into school and it brought me back to how our own journey began.

JANUARY 2010- Switching to Dentistry
It all started just over three years ago in the shower (I don't know what it is about showers but don't you feel like that's where a lot of life-changing decisions are made?). We had just gotten married the previous month and he was about 3 weeks out from taking the M.C.A.T. to apply to Medical School. While taking advantage of his new marital privilege of having a shower buddy, Robbie confided in me that he was having serious hesitations about Medical School. He felt like it wasn't the right fit for his personality and that he was leaning more towards becoming a dentist.

It didn't take much convincing for me to be on board with that plan. I had always loved going to the dentist as a kid (I know, right?! I am a total weirdo!) and my parents are still good friends with my childhood dentist. Additionally, while I was in college I got to live with a dentist and his wife so I was able to see first hand the healthy balance of work and home that dentistry could offer

MARCH 2010- Visiting Dental Schools
We went on a little road trip down to Arizona to visit the schools in Glendale and Mesa. It makes me chuckle now thinking that we were so set on going out of state.

JUNE 2010- Taking the D.A.T.
It was actually a relatively easy change from pursuing Medical School to Dental School. Robbie had taken an M.C.A.T. preparation class and there was a lot of similar material on the D.A.T. (He was also thrilled at the glorious revelation that the test did not include a Physics portion). The only additional class he had to take was Microbiology. 

AUGUST 2010- I started working in a Dental Office
Not much to say except that this job was a complete god-send. Robbie eventually started working at this office as well which gave him awesome dental experience to talk about in his interview. 

SEPTEMBER 2010-Submitting His Application
He applied to 5 schools all together: University of Colorado, Creighton, A.T. Still, Midwestern, and University of Nevada. I vetoed a lot of other options (Texas, Missouri, Ohio, etc) mostly due to climate. I have curly hair and I absolutely hate humidity (I'm still amazed that Nebraska made the cut). I don't mind heat as long as it is dry (hence the Arizona and Nevada applications). In my heart I really did not want to leave Colorado. Every other state felt like a step down (no offense to other states, I've just lived here my whole life and I have a hard time with change).

DECEMBER 2010- One Interview Offer
This was a sad month for us because we received several rejection letters and only one interview offer (from University of Colorado). We had to keep reminding ourselves that this was the road God had called us down and that he was going to make a way for us to accomplish it.

JANUARY 2011- The Interview
His interview in Denver went relatively well but since it was his only interview we didn't have much to compare it to. The thing he loved most was meeting the students. It made him realize that University of Colorado was a perfect fit for him and that he wanted to go there more than anywhere else. 

APRIL 2011- The Longest Wait
The worst part of applying to Dental School I think is the waiting. You start to question what could've gone better, what you should've done differently, what will you do if you don't get in, why haven't they contacted you yet, etc. Four months of hell. Then one day Robbie called me at work to inform me he had received a letter of rejection. I knew it would not help if I cried even though I desperately wanted to.

I don't know what I would do without God's word in my life. There are so many moments I can look back on and remember the specific scripture that God used to speak life back into me. The one that carried me through this moment was Psalm 27:13-14.

"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for LORD." -Psalm 27:13-14

I think that's a good stopping place for today. Sorry my posts get so wordy. I'll try to work on being more brief in the future!