I'm going to the welcome back week at JHU next weekend for sure. It's all expenses paid! What sucks is that when I got that acceptance call, the lady on the phone told me, "Yes, we do treat our minorities differently." 😱 It seems like in an effort to diversify they are promoting some kind of segregation. I want to check more of this out when I go to see how deep this actually runs.
I've been working since I was 16 and received no financial help from my parents since I was 17 and had to help raise my family through college. Money and closeness does play a huge factor with me. I didn't realize this until I visited those other schools. I don't want to pay more just to be unhappy someplace, away from my family, and detached my tribe. I'd go to JHU/Vandy (I got a scholarship there) if I really felt like I was hurting by going to OU, though. I'm on the IHS scholarship right now and will continuing on it for medical school. I might as well stick with my obligation to go into primary care instead of paying back the ridiculous amount of money they provide (tuition, fees, livings expenses, misc stuff) plus interest in less than a few years.
Realizing medical school will be tough, I feel like I should indulge in some things outside of medicine that will help shape me as an individual (not just a medical student). I may meet some great people and do some awesome things in Baltimore, but I can do the same here in OK. You guys are great, considerate, helpful, and I'm pretty sure we'll do some awesome things together. There are opportunities available for me here that I can't get anywhere else, too. It's not that I'm so attached to my family that I refuse to leave the nest (I left it a long time ago), but there are elders and other tribal members I want to have access to. This summer I'll be involved in language preservation and education with my tribe. For the first time since I moved out I will be going to the Sun Dance this year. I can learn more about the Native American Church. I never had this opportunity until my father left OK. He didn't want my sisters and me to turn into "dirty, drunk Indians." You see, there's a large cultural resource here that I was never able to tap into until now. I definitely can't do that going to JHU.
All that said, I'm willing to work harder at OU to have the benefits of choosing this lifestyle. 🙂 If I can work it out to where JHU and all of this are more compatible then I would certainly jump for it. I feel like the longer I wait to stop being a lost little he'eka'eshkone, the harder it will be for me to return. I guess the question of OU or JHU/Vandy involves a bit of an identity crisis. 🙁
And, yes, Doctordreamer, that was me! I knew it was you b/c you had brown curly hair and you are really tall. I didn't think it looked like a 'fro though so that kind of kept me from saying something, too. I was expecting more literal 'fro-age. haha