ha ha- that sounds like Dr. Evil, "No we do not gnaw on our kit-ty. Just love him, stroke him..." Hee hee.
I've seen the VA before- but not this time. Both of my interviews were at SFGH. My day was hectic but awesome. I'm in love with the school.
It started out with me getting off work here in Sac later than I thought because our closer didn't come to work, so I got to drive in 5:30pm Sac to Bay Area traffic in the POURING curtain of rain. My best friend lives in Oakland (25 years best friend) and she made me sit down and have two glasses of cabernet before she took me to dinner. I love her. We woke up all happy, had coffee, and I was on my merry way.
Then there was the Bay Bridge. Dude. I just about had a nervous breakdown. I left at 6:50, made it to the metering lights at 7:27. Was at 9th and Howard at 7:40. It was still raining, with thunderstorms in Marin I could see. I seriously thought I'd have to call and have a big black mark against me, but miraculously I pull into the parking lot at 7:52 and was at the library at 7:58. I kid you not.
After that, it was cool. The facilities are amazing. I went to a second year class and was drawn in by the teaching style of a professor who was just awesome- I was enraptured by his method of question/answer with students, and didn't want to leave class. Saw some of my post-bac buddies on campus, all of whom I would pick to have as my physicians, and they gave me hugs and words of encouragement. The students seemed happy and hard-working, were very candid, and were willing to discuss just about anything.
My interviewers acted like real people. I felt as though I could have had a beer with both of them. My second interviewer and I ended up discussing some political stuff in which we were really like-minded and had to keep coming back to "the interview". It was fun, although I was spent by the end of the day. Both of my interviewers were very encouraging, and gave me some positive feedback, although they also stressed the "entire application."
As to info for everyone waiting, again, they stressed the fact that they look at your application as a whole (I can't even tell you how many times I heard that) and to not call, etc. One of the interviewers I had gave me some insight to how they do it, and essentially it boils down to the fact that if you're "high priority" you have a 90% chance of getting in. Almost nobody is accepted off the bat (so for those of you who have been, congratulations).
I also found it interesting that they cared about my essay score. Weird.
Hope that helps. Now I get to join your support group regarding "Mail-Carrier philia or phobia?: how to be impartial to the messenger while treating your letter-induced OCD."
