my PCOM-GA interview adventure (live coverage!)

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TexasTriathlete

TexasTriathlete

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So yesterday, right before I'm about to leave for the airport, I realize my credit card is missing. No time to look around for it, and no reason to think I left it somewhere, so for the purposes of this thread, we will assume it was stolen. Also, it looks less like my fault that way.

So I run over to my bank, cancel the card, and pull out some cash. But now I have no credit card until I have time to sit down with them next time I go into the branch.

So I arrive in Atlanta at about midnight, and Hertz won't rent me a car without a credit card. This is despite the fact that I already paid for the car online. I can't get to my hotel in Suwanee, and my interview appears to be in jeopardy.

So I check into the super-8 by the airport, get about 3 hours of sleep, and get up at the butt crack of dawn to try and figure out how to get to PCOM.

Another note: while I was trying to haggle with the Hertz lady, I miss my baggage claim, and the office is closed, so I had to come into the airport this morning and change into my suit.

Anyway, I finally found a shuttle that will take me out to PCOM. Only $35. I am on the shuttle now, posting on my blackberry. It looks like I'm going to be on time, so I've got that going for me. I think I look okay, and I will be strolling into PCOM with my luggage shortly. We'll see how it goes.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
So yesterday, right before I'm about to leave for the airport, I realize my credit card is missing. No time to look around for it, and no reason to think I left it somewhere, so for the purposes of this thread, we will assume it was stolen. Also, it looks less like my fault that way.

So I run over to my bank, cancel the card, and pull out some cash. But now I have no credit card until I have time to sit down with them next time I go into the branch.

So I arrive in Atlanta at about midnight, and Hertz won't rent me a car without a credit card. This is despite the fact that I already paid for the car online. I can't get to my hotel in Suwanee, and my interview appears to be in jeopardy.

So I check into the super-8 by the airport, get about 3 hours of sleep, and get up at the butt crack of dawn to try and figure out how to get to PCOM.

Another note: while I was trying to haggle with the Hertz lady, I miss my baggage claim, and the office is closed, so I had to come into the airport this morning and change into my suit.

Anyway, I finally found a shuttle that will take me out to PCOM. Only $35. I am on the shuttle now, posting on my blackberry. It looks like I'm going to be on time, so I've got that going for me. I think I look okay, and I will be strolling into PCOM with my luggage shortly. We'll see how it goes.
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lmao, talk about a place that doesn't want you there,

You just posted this like 10 minutes ago, so I wanna be the first to wish you luck 👍
 
7:25 AM: I'm still in the shuttle. I remain unfazed (sp?) by the events of the last 24 hours. I am clutch. I will own this interview. That is, assuming I don't fall asleep in the middle of it. I'm freaking tired.
 
7:32 AM: I have noticed that the leaves on the trees are different colors. Red, brown, green, and various shades of each. Apparently, this is called "fall". We don't have this phenomenon in Texas. Our trees have two colors of leaves: green and gone. I am still in the shuttle. So far, so good.
 
You WILL own that interview! Good luck! Sometimes just getting there is half the battle! (My Chicago trip was quite an adventure) Just hang in there! You've pretty much got all of SDN cheering for you! 😀
 
TexasTriathlete said:
7:46 AM: I'm almost there. My blackberry is charged up.

7:47 AM: no waffle house
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What an adventure! Keep us posted. You will rock the interview the way things are going. At least they have good muffins and drinks when you get there. Good luck, Tex. May the force be with you.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
7:55 AM: this place is pretty sweet.
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What time did it say your interview was in the letter? You cant go exactly by that, but it should give you an idea to the order. Our group had 4 people but they slotted out the interviews to take 30 minutes each and they were only 15 minutes, so we were done really early and got to sit in on a class.
 
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8:07 AM: I think my interview is at 9. I am way early. Apparently, I will be presented with my muffin soon. I just talked to a couple people here. One is a doc from the admissions office. The other is some lady who works here in the office. Not sure if she's a doc or what. Both were really friendly.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
8:07 AM: I think my interview is at 9. I am way early. Apparently, I will be presented with my muffin soon. I just talked to a couple people here. One is a doc from the admissions office. The other is some lady who works here in the office. Not sure if she's a doc or what. Both were really friendly.
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I think 9 is the first time slot, so plan on getting the hard part over with quickly.
 
Tex, good luck with your interview, sounds like a crazy night. I thought the trees were absolutely gorgeous in Georgia when I was driving through there a couple of weeks ago. Knock 'em dead.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
8:07 AM: I think my interview is at 9. I am way early. Apparently, I will be presented with my muffin soon. I just talked to a couple people here. One is a doc from the admissions office. The other is some lady who works here in the office. Not sure if she's a doc or what. Both were really friendly.
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Good luck TexasTri! I hope it is a wonderful experience! 😀
 
TexasTriathlete said:
7:46 AM: I'm almost there. My blackberry is charged up.

7:47 AM: no waffle house
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Any interview that begins the way yours did could only turn out really well.
They might even enjoy the story if you decide to share with them.

Good luck!
 
Get em Tex
 
1:00 PM: just finished the tour. This place is really nice. I'm surprised we don't see more about it on here.

Everything seems well-organized. The students are friendly and extremely helpful. Also, very laid-back.

Obviously, its PCOM, so its going to be a quality product. I don't think the interview could have possibly gone better. Of course, you can never know for sure, but they really seemed to want to convince me that I should be at their school. I really enjoyed the whole experience. There wasn't anything that just knocked me on my ass the way the PBL session did at Bradenton, but no real drawbacks either.

Nice area, nice facility, very helpful student body... I could easily see myself here. I hope it is an option for me.

1:30 PM: I'm on the shuttle back to the airport now. Holla.
 
I think you've hit on the future of interviews.... live coverage throughout the day via a smartphone or something.

For your next one you should strap a webcam on, let it stream through your blackberry and we can all watch how the day unfolds.

There's something about that Atlanta airport b/c I've also gotten into Atlanta late, had something go wrong with baggage claim and once they lock your luggage up down in the basement for the night there's no getting it until the next day.
 
too bad I didn't see this thread earlier---I would have stopped by the fish bowl and said hi......who interviewed you??? I'm sure you did great!!! good luck 🙂
 
Hey Tex, thanks for providing the coverage on the interview. My palms were getting sweaty just reading your posts. :scared:

Good luck. I'm sure you'll get in.

And, now...the clock is ticking, tick, tick, tick until.....
 
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I was interviewed by Dr. Matayoshi and Dr. Pifer. They were both really nice.

Admissions committee meets on the 19th...
 
The Waffle House is so freakin good . . . in a weird, nasty, greasy, don't EVER look at the people preparing your food kinda way!

I think this is the new preferred interview feedback! Live coverage!
 
8:05 PM: I just saw someone with a hitler-style mustache at the Houston airport. I thought those had gone out of style. Rolling luggage should be illegal. I'm going to slap the next person who drags theirs over my feet.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
8:05 PM: I just saw someone with a hitler-style mustache at the Houston airport. I thought those had gone out of style. Rolling luggage should be illegal. I'm going to slap the next person who drags theirs over my feet.
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Oh no, this isn't going to turn into another rolling luggage vs. carry luggage thread again...
 
TexasTriathlete said:
8:05 PM: I just saw someone with a hitler-style mustache at the Houston airport. I thought those had gone out of style. Rolling luggage should be illegal. I'm going to slap the next person who drags theirs over my feet.
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your last-minute planning, lost credit card, etc, made me nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs

I'm gonna give you a reminder a few days before your 12/6 interview to get organized.😱

Are you in Houston Hobby or Int'l?
 
12:00 AM: I arrive back in austin. I am currently in the drive-thru at whataburger. It is about time that I get my nutrition back in order, but not today.

I was at intercontinental. Houston sucks. The only thing that sucks worse than Houston is Dallas. Unless you are a $40,000/year millionaire.
 
Your little adventure sounds kind of like my DMU interview. I took this shuttle to the Salt Lake City airport (which is 150 large miles from my house) and when I get there they ask for my driver's license after I check my luggage. I discovered it was not in my pocket but thought it must be in my checked luggage. However, since I did not have my license I had to go through all this extra security BS for some reason. For this trip I decided to fly into Omaha instead of Des Moines because it was a bunch cheaper (turned out 3 people at my DMU interview had the same idea and were on my plane!). I get to Omaha and look through my luggage.... and no driver's license. Alamo (who I already paid via priceline!) and no other rental car company would not even entertain the thought of renting a car to me even if my wife faxed it over. I had to travel to Omaha (150 miles away) and I had no car! I thought my interview the next day was history. I started calling around and finally found a Greyhound bus that was heading to Omaha. I hung around the Omaha airport for about 6 hours that afternoon. I finally got on a taxi to get the bus station but was short on cash so he stopped at a bank in downtown Omaha. I tried to pull money out of my account twice but the atm gave me an error on both attempts (Wells Fargo charged me the amount I did not actually withdraw but later refunded the money and said it was a problem with the bank's atm I was trying to withdraw from). The cab driver was getting impatient and tried to explain the situation but had little sympathy. My fare was $13 and only had $10 on me.... he was not happy but said he did not have time to wait and took the $10. I then had to walk 7 blocks in downtown Omaha through a less than reputable part of town with all my luggage. I finally arrived at the greyhound station and it was ghetto. I heard bad things about greyhound and I can confirm that they are all true! I arrived in Des Moines about 11:30 that night in one piece and walked to an expensive Holiday Inn downtown which was only a few blocks from the greyhound station and had a free shuttle to DMU. I finally got in my room about 12:30 that night and only got a few hours of sleep. Luckily all my original hotel reservations were fully refundable and I got something like 75% back from my rental car since they claim that the agreement says to bring a valid driver's license (like I planned not to bring it!). The next day on of the other interviewees at DMU who was flying the same flight to and from Omaha to Salt Lake City offered me a ride to Omaha. He was super nice and saved me the Greyhound hell back to Omaha (even though I already paid for the return Greyhound ticket and have yet to receive a refund for it). In the end I did get accepted to DMU and can say the school was worth the nightmare I had to go through to get there. Also, Des Moines is much nicer than Omaha! Omaha seems pretty shady and weird in the downtown vicinity. For those attending interviews make sure you have a driver's license and credit card before you leave the house otherwise serious consequences could result.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
12:00 AM: I arrive back in austin. I am currently in the drive-thru at whataburger. It is about time that I get my nutrition back in order, but not today.

I was at intercontinental. Houston sucks. The only thing that sucks worse than Houston is Dallas. Unless you are a $40,000/year millionaire.
Click to expand...

Don't know exactly what you're reffering to as being so bad in Dallas (the infamous traffic?😉), but we just moved here a year ago and really like it. Aside from the traffic (there ARE toll roads and other tricks to get around some of it) its a really great area to live in, and the DFW airport is SO easy to navigate. My husband and I moved here from San Antonio. I had always thought that Dallas was awful....its amazing how much your opinion can change once you actually live there. We live right in the middle of DFW, in the pretty part of Arlington, where its not so crazy expensive. Don't rule out the DFW schools, ok? 😀 We'd love to have SDN celebrity in town!:laugh:
 
mandinca said:
Don't know exactly what you're reffering to as being so bad in Dallas (the infamous traffic?😉), but we just moved here a year ago and really like it. Aside from the traffic (there ARE toll roads and other tricks to get around some of it) its a really great area to live in, and the DFW airport is SO easy to navigate. My husband and I moved here from San Antonio. I had always thought that Dallas was awful....its amazing how much your opinion can change once you actually live there. We live right in the middle of DFW, in the pretty part of Arlington, where its not so crazy expensive. Don't rule out the DFW schools, ok? 😀 We'd love to have SDN celebrity in town!:laugh:
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Different strokes I guess. I've been in DFW for the last seven years, and I'm sick of it. The traffic is hell on wheels, and the people are willing to run you over to save a minute in their schedule. I'm ready to move to Ft. Worth for TCOM and not venture east too often. FW is much more horizontal than Dallas. In my experience, tall buildings bring traffic...stack us up in boxes and then we line our cars up to get to those boxes...no thanks, I'd rather take a teepee in wyoming. 8 more years till I can start my rural practice I suppose.
 
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