I just wanted to post a quick update letting everyone know that after over a year of direct preparation and over two of preparation in general, I've been accepted to my first choice, the US Army-Baylor physical therapy doctoral program at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, TX!
I've spent the last couple of weeks very very stressed and have worried if there was more that I could have done to improve my application. I thought about what I would have to do to improve my application if I had to apply next year again (since I turned down my two other civilian options).
On the morning of Thursday, February 21st someone posted to a PT school forum (on Student Doctor Network) that he had been selected for the program. I spent the next several hours worrying and wondering if I would be called. After waiting most of the day, I finally called up the SFC whose office I had traveled to to sign the last form that was needed before my application was submitted. I asked him if it would be alright to call my recruiter to ask about the board results. After responding what I could have sworn was annoyance, he checked with his superior officer and coming back on the line said "I don't think I saw your name on the list." I was so sad at that moment and was already planning how I would thank him for looking into this for me, what I would tell Ishani and how I would make my application un-refusable next year. He paused for a second and then said, "Nah, I'm just messing with you. Your name's right here. You're on the list. Congratulations." I didn't really believe him at this point and I had spent so much time worrying about not being admitted, that I really didn't hear him, and the news I had wanted to hear so badly didn't exactly stick.
I then immediately called Ishani (who of course was ecstatic) and then spoke to my recruiter. She told me that she had been unsure of whether to tell me the results due to chain-of-command issue with her superior officer. She told me how excited she was for me and (and this may change) that she'll be making every attempt to come out (by car, so 11 hours one way for her) for my swearing-in ceremony. That should happen once my security clearance has gone through and my provisional acceptance is changed to a full admit - so in about 1-2 months.
I'm so happy to be moving forward and to know where I'll be going in the fall. I also can't wait to talk to other admits from the NE Region (where I'm now living) when a meet-and-greet hopefully happens in a few weeks. I'll provide updates on this later. For now, aaaaaahhhh! I got it!
PS: Ishani and I got a Samsung Galaxy SIII as a reward for getting in after so much hard work. It's wi-fi connectivity in our apartment has been problematic, but hopefully with a replacement phone (due in this week) or a new router, we'll be able to solve the problem. This being my first smartphone, though, I'm more than impressed with what I can do.
