The Pressure is Off Baby - We're in!!

Niels was accepted to dental school in Arizona!!! After 7 months of stress, essays, application fees and secondary applications we are happy to have this huge relief off our backs. I am especially happy that I can stop worrying that we would become the people in the grad school horror stories you all hear about, the ones people have been haunting us with all year . . you know the ones I am talking about . . . . " I know someone who applied to 20 schools and didn't even get invited to one interview!" or I love the ethnic ones . . "My friend had a 4.2 GPA and and a 24 on his DAT and has been rejected 3 years in a row, and he is BLACK!"

These are the type of stories have kept me up at night.

The way Niels told me was pretty funny, for him at least. Two Fridays ago we had decided in the morning that we would go to a nice dinner to celebrate Niels being done with finals and me being done with my huge office move that took place that week. I called Niels twice during the day and he didn't answer. Finally he called me later in the afternoon and was being really weird and distant on the phone. At one point he even cut me off and answered one of my questions with , "So how is work going today?" By this point I was officially annoyed with his super strange phone behavior, so I told him I would see him at 6 for dinner and got off the phone.

Because I am a woman . . . I began to assume the worst cases possible, naturally. What was he doing at home that he couldn't tell me? Why was he so jittery on the phone? Then the logical thought came to me that maybe he got into school and is excited to tell me . . . but I quickly dismissed that idea, because he had only interviewed 8 days before. The school told him it would be at least a month before a decision was made. I was so annoyed/perplexed at work the rest of day.

6 o'clock rolled around and Niels came to my office to get me for dinner. I came down the elevator still irritated about our earlier phone conversation. The elevator door opened and there was Niels with a long red rose in hand. (*For those of you that know Niels, know that the flower is a BIG deal*) I hugged him and we walked out to the car. I just sat and waited for him to say something, but instead he just sat there with a huge grin on his face, enjoying the fact that I was completely confused.

Finally I looked at him and said, "Honey, are you pregnant?" We both had a good laugh, and still . . he didn't say a word. Finally we got to the restaurant after 20 minutes of driving and right before we ordered he leaned over and said, "We got in."

Needless to say I was VERY excited, but I had to play it down because we were at one of those nice, quiet and dark restaurants. Had we been somewhere normal, I probably would have jumped on the table. I was so shocked because had only been 8 days after his interview. So proud of him.

This is very long so I will close, but I will end with an update on our application status. Although we have been accepted to Midwestern University in Arizona, we still are waiting to see if we have any other options before making a final decision.

Quick Stats:

• Applied to 15 schools total
• Denied by 7 schools
• Accepted at MWU Arizona
• Interview @ UNLV Jan. 17th
• Still waiting to hear from: University of the Pacific, Howard University, University of Louisville, Boston University, University of North Carolina, Virginia Commonwealth University