E
Eyegirl2007
Hello all. Welcome to the recap...
I left for Boston on Sunday, landed in Logan late Sunday night (mmm airport delays) amid the sheet of ice that was Boston. After I collected my luggage (harder than I thought but at least it all arrived) I called my shuttle and waited outside. I don't know how many of you have been to Logan airport but all the buses and shuttles come by this one cement island and you have to jump up and down to get them to notice you (this was kind of fun, actually). So I got in the shuttle. I thought people drove aggressively in Indiana but trust me when I say this is nothing compared to Boston! I stayed at a nice inn in Revere, MA (right by the airport) and had a lovely Italian dinner.
The next morning I called a cab (good taxi service 1-781-284-3600 if you're in Revere) and attempted to get to NEWENCO. It was a good thing I left forty five minutes early because I was expected at NEWENCO at 10 to 9 and it took almost that long to get through the early morning traffic. I'm actually really impressed that the cabbie didn't kill me since he was basically driving like a NASCAR guy. Boston is amazing. It's historic, there's the ocean nearby, there's beautiful architecture, colleges, and anything else you could possibly want. I loved it. We arrived on Beacon street and eventually pulled up in front of NEWENCO.
Omigod. Bow down to the beauty that is this college. It's located in a series of four buildings, an old Boston mansion that used to belong to the Sears-Roebuck family. It is swank. The walls are all a deep wood. There are marble fireplaces everywhere with elegant carvings on them. The ceilings are carved plaster. In the entrance there is a huge spiral staircase (also wood, very nice) leading up to a gorgeous stained glass window. And the best thing---the light fixtures on the main floor are all artificial candlesticks held in old Egyptian decorations. I've heard someone describe it as being the Hogwarts of optometry. It really really really is. It's so beautiful. I still can't believe it. It's like a medieval castle. It's like some blissful academic fantasy.
So anyway, back to the EDUCATION. We (seven interviewees, and two open house guests) had breakfast first in the cafeteria (free!). the chef was very surly to us but oh well. Then the admissions people came and got us and we had an introductory presentation on the college where they talked about the curriculum--NEWENCO integrates clinic very well into the curriculum, starting the first week. They are very very enthusiastic about this idea. You participate in vision screenings your first week! They are the only school to do this. Then the professors came to get us one by one for interviews. I had to wait till last to be interviewed and it was making me completely neurotic.
The interview itself went really well. THe professor was very laid back and talked to me mostly about the traffic in Boston! He did ask me the usual, tell me how you got interested in optometry, why NEWENCO type of thing. He let me ask him questions. I asked about working on research (they have a research honors program). It was very conversational, so conversational in fact that I was late for the next presentation (housing). I really liked him. I will be sending a thank you note tomorrow. I have had great luck throughout this process in that I have had very good interviewers...
A
I left for Boston on Sunday, landed in Logan late Sunday night (mmm airport delays) amid the sheet of ice that was Boston. After I collected my luggage (harder than I thought but at least it all arrived) I called my shuttle and waited outside. I don't know how many of you have been to Logan airport but all the buses and shuttles come by this one cement island and you have to jump up and down to get them to notice you (this was kind of fun, actually). So I got in the shuttle. I thought people drove aggressively in Indiana but trust me when I say this is nothing compared to Boston! I stayed at a nice inn in Revere, MA (right by the airport) and had a lovely Italian dinner.
The next morning I called a cab (good taxi service 1-781-284-3600 if you're in Revere) and attempted to get to NEWENCO. It was a good thing I left forty five minutes early because I was expected at NEWENCO at 10 to 9 and it took almost that long to get through the early morning traffic. I'm actually really impressed that the cabbie didn't kill me since he was basically driving like a NASCAR guy. Boston is amazing. It's historic, there's the ocean nearby, there's beautiful architecture, colleges, and anything else you could possibly want. I loved it. We arrived on Beacon street and eventually pulled up in front of NEWENCO.
Omigod. Bow down to the beauty that is this college. It's located in a series of four buildings, an old Boston mansion that used to belong to the Sears-Roebuck family. It is swank. The walls are all a deep wood. There are marble fireplaces everywhere with elegant carvings on them. The ceilings are carved plaster. In the entrance there is a huge spiral staircase (also wood, very nice) leading up to a gorgeous stained glass window. And the best thing---the light fixtures on the main floor are all artificial candlesticks held in old Egyptian decorations. I've heard someone describe it as being the Hogwarts of optometry. It really really really is. It's so beautiful. I still can't believe it. It's like a medieval castle. It's like some blissful academic fantasy.
So anyway, back to the EDUCATION. We (seven interviewees, and two open house guests) had breakfast first in the cafeteria (free!). the chef was very surly to us but oh well. Then the admissions people came and got us and we had an introductory presentation on the college where they talked about the curriculum--NEWENCO integrates clinic very well into the curriculum, starting the first week. They are very very enthusiastic about this idea. You participate in vision screenings your first week! They are the only school to do this. Then the professors came to get us one by one for interviews. I had to wait till last to be interviewed and it was making me completely neurotic.
The interview itself went really well. THe professor was very laid back and talked to me mostly about the traffic in Boston! He did ask me the usual, tell me how you got interested in optometry, why NEWENCO type of thing. He let me ask him questions. I asked about working on research (they have a research honors program). It was very conversational, so conversational in fact that I was late for the next presentation (housing). I really liked him. I will be sending a thank you note tomorrow. I have had great luck throughout this process in that I have had very good interviewers...
A
