Final Decision

Today I got my letter from Western University telling me that I'm an alternate for their school... with that being said, final decisions finally come together. I've already put the letter into the mailbox. Not just any mailbox that you can go out and collect your mail from. One of those big blue post office boxes that isn't able to regurgitate any piece of letter that gets fed into their mouth. The signed letter and check for $280.00 is on it's way towards the middle of the United States....

So my decision is final... I'm going to Kansas State University for their DVM program... Class of 2012!!!! I'm super excited that I'm going to vet school... =) It was difficult to see through the fog of rejection from University of Minnesota at first... but now I see things crystal clear. I'm actually going to be a veterinarian in 4 years!! At work, CRV was telling me how lucky I should feel that I got into any vet school on my first application.. and you know what? She's totally and completely right. There are so many people who apply and reapply and reapply again and don't get in. While it's true that I worked hard to get where I am, it's also true how competitive vet school really is. Before I even started my application for vet school.. people would ask me where I want to go for vet school and my reply was "anywhere they'll accept me!!!" That statement should still remain the same... I think I started taking it for granted that Kansas State had accepted me. That is where I was completely wrong.... I was taking Kansas State for granted. I can't even imagine how I would feel if I was waitlisted at Kansas State... and waitlisted and rejected everywhere else. When I think about it from that perspective, I'm more than thrilled to attend Kansas State!!!

On another note... today an elderly man hit me while I was turning left into In-N-Out. I couldn't believe that he hit me accelerating! I don't understand how he could not have seen me because I had been sitting in the middle lane on the street waiting to turn left. When the traffic cleared, I started turning left but didn't get very far because his volvo hit the left side of my car. When I turned my head to look at him, his car was perpendicular to mine but at an angle since I had just started turning. He was trying to make a left out of the complex. I don't know if he didn't see me (in which case he must be blind), or if he thought he had the right of way. This is the first time anyone has hit my car... I feel bad for the guy because he's elderly and all....

This made Mike and I think about The Chaos Theory.... hmmm... I'll have to divulge into that later. But for now... this is how I plan to neuter dogs once I finish vet school.

It's 11:36 am and all I want to do is crawl back into bed and sleep. I stayed up until 3 am last night hanging out with Emily. Just talking our usual crazy talk! She also applied to vet school the same time I did and she is hoping to go to New Zealand for vet school. Me, Emily and Kazuki also all applied to Western... and we're all still waiting to hear back of course. I think we will get our letters of decision next Monday because supposedly they are mailing out decisions on the 15th, which is a Saturday... so we wouldn't get them until the 17th, Monday. I'm not too worried about it though, because no matter what Western has decided of me, I think I'll still go to K-State!

The more and more I think about Western's program, the more worried I become about how I will fare there as a student. On one hand, I feel like I get along well with other people and do have the potential to learn well in a group setting. So in this light, I feel that I can succeed at Western even though it may be difficult for me to adjust to not having lectures and such. I will have to adjust to learning everything myself. If I only got into Western and no other schools, I think that I am able to adapt myself to go with the flow of Western. I would MAKE myself be successful as a student there because that's how determined I am to become a veterinarian. On the other hand, I feel that because I DO have a choice about where I am going, a traditional learning environment will be a better fit for me as a student. I do well in structured type learning and have the endurance to study long hours by myself and with groups. I guess what I fear is change. Change of learning style. I feel like I can do both, but what do I prefer? Can I even really make a decision when I've never really experienced Western's style of teaching to begin with?

I guess what I mean is... I know that I will succeed with certainty at K-State. At Western, I feel like I can, but I'm just not positive. And through all this I also question moving Mike, Cory, Faceman and myself to Kansas State.. which seems oh so far away...



Well.. I suppose it's only 3 States in between us....



Somewhere I may end up....

[sigh] All this heavy thinking is making me hungry! Going to have lunch with Miguel on my day off... When you work 6-7 days a week... having a day off is just pure bliss I tell you!

Out of Shape

Tomorrow is the first day I will start my training for a 10K I will be running in May! Mike and I have signed up for the Santa Monica Classic on May 04, 2008. I for one, have not been going to the gym or working out in any way shape or form. It's kind of sad really... to see how much I have really "flubbed" out. I used to be so skinny and in shape. Now I've just become old and flabby! I used to be 115 #. I now stand a 135 #. This is really the worst shape I've ever been in my entire life! I don't consider myself "overweight", but I'm definitely not in shape. So I'm really hoping that this run will give me some motivation to start eating right and exercising.

Today I had dinner at Houston's for Maria's birthday with some old high school girlfriends. It's a hard time for many of the girls right now so it wasn't exactly the happiest event. For some they are things that are not within their control... for others, it's completely within their control and I'm sad to see them this way... not because life is unfair, but because they are being unfair with themselves and not really giving themselves a chance to be truly happy.

All right love. I'm off for the night... Working tomorrow at 7 am. Fun!

I like this picture of me and The Pie (oh and Cho Rong too).

Trying to Accept

I'm slowly starting to accept the fact that I've been rejected from U of MN. I'm still pretty sad about it because I loved everything about the school and the city when I went there for my interview. I wouldn't feel so sad if I knew that I didn't have anything to do with the outcome, but it surely must be because I didn't interview well.... because the acceptance, waitlist or rejection was soley based on the interview, personal statement and letters of recs. Unless I had some not so stellar letters, which may be possible since I don't know what my 3 letters wrote. I thought I had a pretty solid personal statement... which leads me to conclude that my interview did not go as well as I thought. If I at least got waitlisted, I wouldn't feel so bad.... but I got straight up REJECTED. It makes me feel pretty bad.

I'll probably get over it when I start getting excited about the school that I actually AM going to attend. We find out next week for Western U's acceptances, waitlists and rejections. And if Mike was more gung-ho about going to Kansas with me, I might be more excited about that as well. But all this time he's been saying "ehhh" about Kansas, even though he says that he will go with me. So I feel bad dragging him along there if it's not where he wants to be. I talked to him last night and he said that maybe us going to Kansas is a good thing because we'll be in a rural area, which neither of us have really experienced, whereas we've kind of already lived the city life and will probably live the city life after I graduate vet school. He does want a change of atmosphere also... but I still get this feeling that he'd rather be here than Kansas.

I really need to stop talking about how depressing this all is! I mean, honestly? I SHOULD be happy. There are lots of other people who haven't had one acceptance.... I suppose if I went to the U of MN interview first and got rejected, then went to my Kansas interview and was accepted, I would be thrilled. But the timing didn't work out that way... and when I got to Minnesota, I started thinking about how GREAT everything was going to be if I was able to go to this school.... I started planning everything in my head... where Mike and I were going to live, where I could get food for Medusa.. where we could eat lunch on Sunday mornings... I got really detailed and I think that was definitely a mistake on my part. I should have never had those feelings of excitement until I actually got in. Because you never know what can happen...

Okay, I said that I would stop talking about how depressed I am but I just continued to splurge! With that, I think I should make some pointers about Kansas that IS awesome and great.

• I got into vet school. Something I thought I could never even accomplish.
• Kansas State is a vet school in the United States.
• Kansas State has a stronger focus on exotics than U of MN.
• Kansas State does not track (to some this may be a negative, but I view it as a positive).
• Every student of KSU's DVM program gets a Toshiba tablet. I'm damn excited about that tablet!!
  

On another note... today at work, Sam, an American Bulldog that has an enlarged heart came in today for a check up. He had gained almost 20 pounds because of fluid build up in his abdomen. Dr. Vollaro decided to tap the abdomen to get some of that fluid out. We sucked out 9 liters of fluid from his abdomen. It took almost an hour and a half! But he weighed a lot less afterwards and looked much more comfortable. Poor guy. He's such a sweet dog. I have a feeling Sam doesn't have a whole lot of time left here with us... his meds seem less effective than before.

You know what I AM excited about? Being a veterinarian in 2012!! I can't believe that I'm actually going to be a vet (as long as I survive vet school that is)... I was always kind of skeptical since my overall GPA isn't so great because of some issues I had with my personal life during the beginning of my college education. It'll be great because I'll be able to take care of Cory Pie and The Faceman myself... Cory especially since he's so awful at the vet. I am happy... eventually I'll be ecstatic about vet school. I know it!!!

The Cory Pie!

The Faceman!

We're doing movie night at Em's house tonight. Yay!!

Rejected from U of Mn

Today is a very sad day indeed.... I got a rejection letter from University of Minnesota. At first I was in a state of complete shock. I couldn't really believe it. I almost thought that there must have been some kind of mistake. Then it started to settle in... I really truly had been rejected. I suppose I should have never had such high hopes for Minnesota to begin with. I mean, I wish I hadn't expected receiving an acceptance or waitlist letter.. And I wish I didn't like the school and the city so damn much when I went there. [sigh]....

Western University should start sending out their letters sometime next week. So it will be down to Kansas State or Western University. Honestly though? I'm 90% sure I'll go to Kansas State.

Mike and I have decided to run a 10K in May. We went to Sports Authority and got a pair of running shoes for me to show my commitment to this run. It's only 6.5 miles, but hell... I've run 6.5 miles never, so I still need to train for it. I'm excited for the run. Darren is going to run as well!

I'm super sad about Minnesota, but life does go on....

Just Arrived

After years and years of blogging to Tobey, otherwise known as TB in DiaryLand. I, Karen Lee, have finally decided that today was the day to move to Blogspot. I'll be leaving behind Tobey, but that's okay... I think he'll understand. I guess the main reason for the change of atmosphere is because my life itself is going to change drastically as well. I also haven't been writing nearly as much as I once did. I'm hoping this new environment will serve me well and encourages new thoughts.

Right now, the direction of the next 4 years of my life is teetering on the arrival of some letters. This big change has all been induced by graduate school. Vet school to be exact. I applied to 8 different schools: Michigan State, University of Minnesota, Kansas State, Iowa State, University of Pennsylvania, Colorado State, UC Davis and Western University. The first thing that arrived in my mailbox was a rejection letter from UPenn. Very disappointing as it was my first rejection letter. To sum it all up very quickly, I was rejected from UPenn, Colorado State, UC Davis, and Iowa State. I have interviewed at Kansas State, Western University and University of Minnesota. I have been accepted at Kansas State thus far, and I anxiously await the arrival of news from Minnesota and Western.

My #1 choice: University of Minnesota
My #2 choice: a toss up between Kansas State and Western University

Kansas State has already accepted me and I truly was enticed by the school. What I wasn't so enticed by was the city itself. The school is in a city you may have heard of. Manhattan. But no, not Manhattan, NY... Manhattan, KS. The program itself also seems wonderful and the tablet PC that every new vet student gets had my attention going. But alas, the University of Minnesota offers an exceptional program as well as city living. Something that most vet schools cannot offer. I will have to explain in further detail later. Right now, I must tend to something that I can't seem to get enough of right now.... Sleep.