So it's May 30th, and the deadline for submitting my rank list is tomorrow. Although I certified a preliminary rank list weeks ago, I haven't actually sat down to really think about what order to rank my programs in until now. Back when I submitted my rank list for residency, I knew what my top 3 were. It was just a matter of ranking them in an order I was happy with. I was very happy to match at DUCOM for residency, but there was a time when I had UIC ranked higher than DUCOM because I just wasn't sure which city I preferred to live in. Philly or Chicago? A few friends thought I should have ranked UIC higher because it had the "better name" and for some, better location. In the end I ranked DUCOM higher than UIC because Philly was 1) not as cold as Chicago 2) Cheaper cost of living 3) Free parking in Center City Philly 4) Better Chinese food 5) Close proximity to cities like New York and DC (which I've visited several times since moving here)
Regarding fellowship, I have no idea what my top 3 choices are. There's not even a clear cut number 1 choice. Almost all my interviews are in the Northeast, with the lone exception in Florida. And while I really liked the program in Florida, I don't know if I'd like the city (it's pretty much a small college town), and an intern who went to undergrad there said that there's little to do there if you're not a student. Some of my friends are encouraging me to go to New York. If my ultimate goal was to live in New York City, then the choice would be obvious, but I just don't have that urge to live in the city. Some of the programs I like are in smaller cities, and yet, I feel like I need to be close to a large city so that when I'm not working, I will have lots of things to do to occupy my free time. New York would be perfect for that.
Then I need to ask myself, how much do I want to stay in Philly? When I first moved here I didn't think too much of Philly, but now that I've spent more time here, I've come to really like it. It's within driving distance to New York and DC, there's lots of places to shop (and eat), and there's a great orchestra downtown that I've gone to listen to several times. I'd miss that if I had to move. Three of the places I interviewed at are in/around Philly, so if I really wanted to stay in Philly, it's an easy choice. But just because I want to go to a program doesn't mean I'll get in.
*sigh* Decisions decisions. I just hope it'll all work out in the end.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
May 1, 2011 at 11 pm...where were you?
Everyone remembers what they were doing on Tuesday, September 11, 2011, and when they found out about Al Qaida's attack on the World Trade Center and DC. I was a freshman at UT, just coming out of my 8 a.m. calculus class when I saw people gathered around a TV that screamed, "BOMBING ON CAPITOL HILL." That was an early mistake of the press when American Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. I remembered sitting in front of the TV with my roommate watching footage of the planes crashing into the WTC and the towers falling afterwards. I remember the deathly quiet that fell upon campus in the following days, as no one knew which city would be targeted next. Austin was an attractive city to attack if one really wanted to target President Bush. He had been the governor of Texas for years, and his daughter attended UT.
Last night I checked my Facebook while working (it was my last night working the 7pm -7am shift) when one friend's status caught my eye: "" Disbelieving, I checked CNN.com and saw nothing about such a story. Then my fellow nighttime resident got a text from the Associated Press, and she said, "Hey, you're right! Bin Laden is dead!" We then recalled hearing earlier that President Obama was planning to address the nation; fortunately we had finished our admissions at the time and hurried down to the resident lounge to watch the president speak. We were joined by several other residents, and when Obama finished speaking, all we could think was, "Wow."
The following footage of the people cheering in DC, New York, and the Phillies game (yes, fans there were chanting, "USA!" despite the game already dragging into the 12th inning) was uplifting. Most of the revelers on the streets were college students, who were only in elementary school ten years ago. It was encouraging to see that the September 11 attacks made such a huge impact on them so that they were the loudest among all those celebrating. Although I'm not really one to celebrate the death of another person, I was sure that the families of those who had lost loved ones to September 11 could find some closure in Bin Laden's death. And if that's the case, then the cause was a good one.
Last night I checked my Facebook while working (it was my last night working the 7pm -7am shift) when one friend's status caught my eye: "" Disbelieving, I checked CNN.com and saw nothing about such a story. Then my fellow nighttime resident got a text from the Associated Press, and she said, "Hey, you're right! Bin Laden is dead!" We then recalled hearing earlier that President Obama was planning to address the nation; fortunately we had finished our admissions at the time and hurried down to the resident lounge to watch the president speak. We were joined by several other residents, and when Obama finished speaking, all we could think was, "Wow."
The following footage of the people cheering in DC, New York, and the Phillies game (yes, fans there were chanting, "USA!" despite the game already dragging into the 12th inning) was uplifting. Most of the revelers on the streets were college students, who were only in elementary school ten years ago. It was encouraging to see that the September 11 attacks made such a huge impact on them so that they were the loudest among all those celebrating. Although I'm not really one to celebrate the death of another person, I was sure that the families of those who had lost loved ones to September 11 could find some closure in Bin Laden's death. And if that's the case, then the cause was a good one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)