- Joined
- Mar 21, 2013
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Well, after interviewing on 11/14, I’ve finally got some free time to write up a trip report. For TL;DR – A+.
I landed at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport instead of the Knoxville airport simply due to a price difference. I had a nice BBQ brisket sandwich at Dixie Outpost BBQ before I made my way to Cooper’s Gem Mine only to find out that they were closed. That led into a nice 2 hour drive to get to my hotel in Middlesboro, KY. The drive was very nice and gave me a good opportunity to see the landscape of Tennessee. I was even able to drive through a snow flurry. Being from Texas (more toward the Gulf) I kept thinking, “The rain is falling kind of strange, well the radio hasn’t mentioned anything about it, so oh well.” It wasn’t until I hit a stop sign that the snowflakes accumulated onto the window that I was able to see that no, that wasn’t rain.
I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Express in Middlesboro, KY for your stay. The school will send a shuttle to pick you up and return you after the interview, the hotel offered a wide amount of food for breakfast, and when I arrived – I was given cookies and a welcome packet from DCOM. It is also a straight shot away from the school and the meet and great at Gondolier. Speaking of the meet and greet, I highly recommend it if you can go. I found the students (second years) to be extremely knowledgeable and friendly and thoroughly enjoyed the event.
For the interview day I went ahead and took my rental car over instead of taking the shuttle because I had a few things I wanted to do after the interview. After you sign in at the front desk, they’ll walk you over to a conference room with a good amount of windows where you’ll meet the other 11 applicants and maybe their guests. I mention the windows because when the current students notice that there are some new folks there, they almost come running to offer any advice they may have regarding the area, the school, and or student life. The interview itself is closed file and two staff/faculty members will be speaking with you. Inside the packet they give you when you arrive, it will have their names and titles and the schedule for the interview day.
The only sad thing about the day was that the current students were having a practice gross anatomy exam where the donors were in view. Out of respect for the donors (which I completely agree with), the room was inaccessible to us. Everything else about the school is exactly what I want in a school. Non-mandatory morning lectures that are uploaded to a media website later for viewing, the opportunity to get a MBA, large amount of school clubs (3 pages long), on campus housing, a Kroger 10 minutes away, very welcoming to students who want to do their 3rd and 4th year rotations in other areas, relaxed and non-gunner atmosphere, and outdoor beauty.
After the interview was over, I changed and headed out to a store called Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge and then the Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg. There was/is a ton of traffic in Pigeon Forge due to road construction and the fact it felt very touristy. I saw several dinner theatres, a wax museum, a haunted house, several large themed restaurants but the town was decorated in lights for the holidays which made the drive pretty good. Christmas Place is a year round store that sells all things related to Christmas and if you have a mom like I do that is THAT type of mom, you’ll be able to find something here that she will like. And yes, I did find my mom something here. Afterwards, I drove to the aquarium and it was a bit pricey, $30 for a single ticket and you had to pay in cash in order to park. Gatlinburg was pretty (decorated in lights as well), I saw a lot of stores and it seemed like a really nice town to vacation in but with the temperature nearing the teens, I wasn’t going to find out for sure.
When I left for the airport on Saturday, the radio station 95.9 which played rock and some heavy metal started to play Rammstein – Du Hast. My rock radio station in Houston isn’t even brave enough to play them and here I am driving in the middle of nowhere, TN and here comes some German metal.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for some good news soon since I would love to be a student here and I wish everyone else a ton of luck.
I landed at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport instead of the Knoxville airport simply due to a price difference. I had a nice BBQ brisket sandwich at Dixie Outpost BBQ before I made my way to Cooper’s Gem Mine only to find out that they were closed. That led into a nice 2 hour drive to get to my hotel in Middlesboro, KY. The drive was very nice and gave me a good opportunity to see the landscape of Tennessee. I was even able to drive through a snow flurry. Being from Texas (more toward the Gulf) I kept thinking, “The rain is falling kind of strange, well the radio hasn’t mentioned anything about it, so oh well.” It wasn’t until I hit a stop sign that the snowflakes accumulated onto the window that I was able to see that no, that wasn’t rain.
I highly recommend the Holiday Inn Express in Middlesboro, KY for your stay. The school will send a shuttle to pick you up and return you after the interview, the hotel offered a wide amount of food for breakfast, and when I arrived – I was given cookies and a welcome packet from DCOM. It is also a straight shot away from the school and the meet and great at Gondolier. Speaking of the meet and greet, I highly recommend it if you can go. I found the students (second years) to be extremely knowledgeable and friendly and thoroughly enjoyed the event.
For the interview day I went ahead and took my rental car over instead of taking the shuttle because I had a few things I wanted to do after the interview. After you sign in at the front desk, they’ll walk you over to a conference room with a good amount of windows where you’ll meet the other 11 applicants and maybe their guests. I mention the windows because when the current students notice that there are some new folks there, they almost come running to offer any advice they may have regarding the area, the school, and or student life. The interview itself is closed file and two staff/faculty members will be speaking with you. Inside the packet they give you when you arrive, it will have their names and titles and the schedule for the interview day.
The only sad thing about the day was that the current students were having a practice gross anatomy exam where the donors were in view. Out of respect for the donors (which I completely agree with), the room was inaccessible to us. Everything else about the school is exactly what I want in a school. Non-mandatory morning lectures that are uploaded to a media website later for viewing, the opportunity to get a MBA, large amount of school clubs (3 pages long), on campus housing, a Kroger 10 minutes away, very welcoming to students who want to do their 3rd and 4th year rotations in other areas, relaxed and non-gunner atmosphere, and outdoor beauty.
After the interview was over, I changed and headed out to a store called Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge and then the Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg. There was/is a ton of traffic in Pigeon Forge due to road construction and the fact it felt very touristy. I saw several dinner theatres, a wax museum, a haunted house, several large themed restaurants but the town was decorated in lights for the holidays which made the drive pretty good. Christmas Place is a year round store that sells all things related to Christmas and if you have a mom like I do that is THAT type of mom, you’ll be able to find something here that she will like. And yes, I did find my mom something here. Afterwards, I drove to the aquarium and it was a bit pricey, $30 for a single ticket and you had to pay in cash in order to park. Gatlinburg was pretty (decorated in lights as well), I saw a lot of stores and it seemed like a really nice town to vacation in but with the temperature nearing the teens, I wasn’t going to find out for sure.
When I left for the airport on Saturday, the radio station 95.9 which played rock and some heavy metal started to play Rammstein – Du Hast. My rock radio station in Houston isn’t even brave enough to play them and here I am driving in the middle of nowhere, TN and here comes some German metal.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for some good news soon since I would love to be a student here and I wish everyone else a ton of luck.