For the past few years Jordan has applied to PA school without success. The first year of applying we really had no idea what we were doing and applied even before he graduated although he had hardly any hours of experience. On top of that I basically told Jordan he could only apply to a few schools that were within the boundaries of places I'd be okay to live in (aka close to family). Regardless of his somewhat weak application and limited options, he was still invited to two interviews. Even though he wasn't accepted we felt hopeful since he made it that far having applied to only four schools with such little experience. The second year we'd get in for sure (or so we thought).
The second time around Jordan had more health care experience, had recently accepted a job at the hospital as a CNA and applied to a few more schools. I still set limits because I wanted to stay close-ish to family, but I thought expanding my boundaries a little more would help. (Anywhere on or near the east coast was still a big NO.) He got a couple of interviews, but he still didn't make it. This was a huge let down and we did some serious thinking and praying about whether or not to give it a third try.
We decided to give it one last go and to give it our all. Jordan went back to BYU-I to take a couple classes that would make his application stand out a little more academically and he also began shadowing a PA at the hospital. When it came time for applications, we applied to as many schools as we could. If the school was in good standing and Jordan met the requirements, we applied. Next thing you know Jordan was getting so many interviews he had to be selective about which to accept.
The first school he got into was Salus University in Pennsylvania. He actually received an email of acceptance while he was in his interview at UC Davis. I was the first to see the email and I was so happy I cried. It was seriously painful to have to wait till Jordan was done to tell him but you can imagine how relieved and excited he was when finally hearing the news. Once he was accepted to one school, it was a lot easier to turn down other interviews to schools he had no desire of going to in the first place.
During October and November of last year, Jordan flew all over the place to attend five interviews. He got into two (Salus University and UC Davis), wait-listed on two (Emory University in Georgia and Quinnipiac University in Connecticut) and rejected to one (Nova University in Florida). Between Salus and UC Davis we decided on UC Davis and started making plans to move in June.
You can imagine how I felt about moving to California and living an hour from Jordan's parents and six hours from my own. I was looking at apartments every day, trying to figure out where would be the best place to live. Jordan and I started to get in contact with people who could give us a better idea of the area and things really felt like they were falling into place. Even though the school was acting a little sketchy and we had little information about the program, we couldn't wait to move. Living close to family was all I ever wanted - things were finally working out how I thought they always should.
Then one morning while I was at work Jordan text me saying he got into Quinnipiac off the wait list. I was really excited for him because out of all the schools this one was at the top of his list. He had a great experience at his interview and LOVED the area. Although it was exciting and something to be proud of we both started off with the attitude of, "Cool, but we aren't actually considering it." Then the more we talked the more our attitudes changed to, "Well, we won't tell them 'no' just yet."
The days went on and we received tons and tons of information about Quinnipiac and everyone Jordan came in contact with was extremely professional. On the other hand, we still hadn't received any emails from UC Davis and everyone we talked to was rude and/or unprofessional and gave us zero answers to the many questions we had. We decided we had some serious thinking to do.
The fact that moving to Connecticut was suddenly a real option came as a shock to me, considering it was the last place I'd ever thought we would move to out of all the schools he applied to. I knew why we were considering it, but it was still hard to accept. Right around the time we decided it was a serious option I found out I was pregnant - surprise! Of course I was so excited to welcome another little one into our family, but a move and a pregnancy/new baby (both potentially across the country) was a lot to take in. I was a little emotional to say the least.
We started balancing out the pros and cons and thinking about what was most important. It was really hard to compare the two because we felt so uninformed about the PA program at Davis. UC Davis has a great reputation and their med program is #4 in the country. We knew the name alone would serve Jordan well if we chose to go there. However, their PA program is ranked #84. Quinnipiac is ranked #11. This discrepancy between the two proved to be accurate every day that passed and we began to think that maybe the name of a school isn't what is most important. Is it better to graduate from somewhere with a well-known name or graduate better prepared to take care of the medical needs of others? After A LOT of praying, research, wise input and counsel from others and crying (on my part) we decided that attending Quinnipiac was the best choice, even if it was the harder one.
Throughout the past few years I have learned a lot. I think the one lesson that stands out most is that Heavenly Father has a plan for me. It might not always be what I want or what I think is best but the fact is He knows what is best. He knows the whole picture and how things will end. It's my responsibility to pray and seek to know what His plan is for me and make the necessary changes in my life to follow that plan, no matter how hard it may seem. I'm grateful to be in Connecticut and am excited for the adventures to come!
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