Acceptance Letter

My college experience started almost 5 {long} years ago.  I always knew I could go to college, and graduate, but didn't quite know what I wanted to major in.  My classes in high school were based around the medical field and I thought I wanted to be a nurse, but after some health classes and teachers scaring me about what CNAs do, I changed my mind.  Once I started at Weber, I decided my major was going to be Dental Hygiene, however; that didn't last very long after I trained in a dental office.  After some medical issues of my own, I tried out Nutrition as a major... That changed {again} after all the chemistry classes.  Finally... I settled on nursing after getting a job in Labor and Delivery.  So for the last two years, I have been applying to nursing school and finishing up the prerequisite classes. 


In the last few months, I have been talking to people in the neighborhood about nursing school and was very lucky to have someone tell me that they could try to help.  They make some calls and had me sit down with the Pre-Admissions adviser at the DATC the day before the applications were due on June 17th.  When we sat down, she pulled apart my application and started to score it.  She gave me my final total of 10.25 (if I got full points on the Personal Letter) out of 14.  She then proceeded to tell me (since I am sure she could read every emotion on my face despite my best intentions of hiding my disappointment of the lower score) that most people who get accepted have a score of 10.75.  Depending on the amount of applicants and the scores, I had a good chance of being an alternate, or a slight chance of being accepted.  We talked about how I could increase my score - applying again and getting re-applications points (a bump of .25), or start to take classes over and get A's instead of the B's or B-'s and raise my GPA.  This last suggestion was daunting as I could have to take 3 very hard classes over and do even better than the very good effort I had already put in.  One last word of advice that she gave me was that the first 10 students to be accepted and all of the for-sure rejection letters went out very early.  I would most likely be one of the last to hear because I was right in the maybe-maybe not range and the longer it took, the better chance I had. I walked away from that interview/meeting preparing myself that it was going to be at least another year, or longer before I would be going to nursing school.  I have been asked many times in the last week or two about my nursing school status and kept telling people, the longer it takes to get this letter, the better.  I was really hoping not to hear from the school for another month (based on what she told me). 


Today, after I finished lunch, Michael came into the kitchen and handed me some mail.  I grabbed it without really glancing at it and kept talking.  Once I looked at it, my heart just sank.  It was "too soon" to be getting this letter, it had to be bad news. I really didn't have it in me to open a third rejection letter.  I sat holding the envelope for at least five minutes with Michael asking if he wanted him to open it for me.  I finally just figured, it says what it says, I might as well just get it over with, open it and move on.  I slowly opened the envelope, only seeing the bottom portion of the letter.  I looked more towards the top and saw the words "that begins on Jan. 2, 2012" I just froze.


I thought to myself... "They wouldn't be telling me when nursing school starts if I wasn't at least an alternate."


I ripped the rest of the envelope, fully opened the letter, and yelped!! I honestly couldn't believe what I had read...


"We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for admission to the Practical Nursing Program at the Davis Applied Technology College that begins on Jan. 2, 2012."


I wasn't just an alternate... I was ACCEPTED!!!  I just started crying, I couldn't believe this day was finally here. It was the best surprise that I could have gotten.  I had been having a tough week, been working tons and just tired.  I needed some good news!!


I will start my first year of nursing school (Practical Nursing) at the DATC in January 2012 and then will apply for the RN Completion program through Weber State University taught at the DATC in Kaysville.  This will be the second year, or last two semesters of the program leading to an Associate's of Science in Nursing. I will be doing 4 semesters, January 2012, August 2012, January 2013 and May 2013 and will finish the end of August 2013. 


I still don't really believe it and have looked at this letter at least a dozen times to make sure it really does say what I think it does... It does :)  I don't quite know how to explain my emotions, but I do know that I am in for one crazy ride!! I have been waiting a long time for this so I will definitely make the most of it and try to remember how much effort I put in and how much it means to be to have this accomplishment!  So all of you in my life... When I start complaining about how tired I am, how much I hate studying, how much I just wish I was done with school, remind me how long it took, how many tears, how many sleepless nights, and how much this means to me!!


Thank you so much to all of those who have shared in this journey, who have contributed to my applications, and all of you who support and love me... I couldn't have done it without a SINGLE ONE OF YOU!!!